Railway Interchange

CSX Adds 18 Rail-Served Properties to ‘Select Site’ Program

CSX on April 23 announced its latest group of high-ranking properties to receive CSX Select Site designation under the industrial development program. Eighteen sites across 12 states have earned a Gold, Silver or Bronze rating based on an evaluation of a wide range of site characteristics.

"We continued to optimize our fleet by selectively selling railcars in the secondary market, generating over $30 million of remarketing income in the quarter,” said GATX President and CEO Robert C. Lyons.

GATX Continues to Experience ‘Solid Demand’ in 1Q25

“We continued to experience solid demand for our assets globally,” GATX President and CEO said Robert C. Lyons said during a report on first-quarter 2025 financials, which included Rail North America fleet utilization of 99.2% and a renewal success rate of 85.1%.

(BNSF Photograph)

AAR: U.S. Rail Traffic Up for Week 16

Total U.S. rail traffic for the week ending April 19, 2025 (Week 16) was up 4.5% from the prior-year period, with gains in both carloads and intermodal volume, according to the Association of American Railroads’ (AAR) latest report.

Darryl Perry, a CPKC locomotive engineer in Sparwood, B.C., Canada, is one of the 200-plus “CPKC Hypermilers” who the railroad said “use their ‘feel’ for a locomotive and in-depth local knowledge, coupled with fuel-efficient strategies, to operate trains safely while reducing excess fuel burn.” (Screen Grab from CPKC Video)

Class I Briefs: CSX, CSX/NS/UP, NS, CPKC

CSX inspires students at its second-annual Innovation Day. Also, CSX, Norfolk Southern (NS), Union Pacific (UP) and The Greenbrier Companies rank on USA Today’s America’s Climate Leaders 2025 list; NS crews connect its main line to the future Scout Motors EV manufacturing plant in South Carolina; and Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s (CPKC) Hypermiler program helps locomotive engineers to use less fuel.

Commentary

Making Sense of Tariffs and Inflation for Freight Rail

Recent changes to economic and trade policies are fueling significant challenges within the freight rail industry. As decision-makers face uncertainty, particularly around rail traffic and equipment demand, many are left to wonder whether they should proceed with caution or move forward as planned.

For CSX, a Difficult 1Q25

Weather-related disruptions—winter storms and flooding—and major infrastructure rebuild projects combined to create a difficult first-quarter 2025 for CSX, impacting network performance, revenue and income. CSX’s first-quarter 2025 operating income was $1.04 billion,