Inside, you’ll find these feature stories:
- Dawn of a New Era? — Without volume and market share growth, the Class I’s may be at risk or be forced to look at merging, according to Jason Seidl, Managing Director, TD Cowen and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor, with Elliot Alper, Uday Khanapukar, and Cherilyn Radbourne, TD Cowen.
- Next-Level Safety and Efficiency — Automated train inspection portals are turning “finders into fixers,” reducing risk exposure, mechanical-caused safety incidents and network disruptions.
- Safety First — SLSI has been serving the industry for 10 years with SCAs and educational training programs, providing the roadmap for short line and regional railroads to improve their safety culture.
- Damage Prevention Impact Tests — MxV Rail conducted a series of tests using boxcars loaded with paper rolls to support the evaluation of current damage prevention standards; characterize the current impact environment experienced by cars; and evaluate the effects that new draft systems might have on car and lading resoponses.
Railway Age also presents its 54th Annual Car & Locomotive Repair Directory, which contains information about companies providing contract car and locomotive repair and support (component repair) services to the railroad industry.
In addition, Railway Age Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner addresses the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s invitation for feedback on how federal laws and regulations “undermine free-market competition.” Among commentators was the National Industrial Transportation League. “Woven into the submission’s tapestry is a masterful gambit that if embraced by DOJ would have trustbusters advocating for more economic reregulation while paradoxically claiming to bolster a free-market approach,” he writes. Also, Railway Age Financial Editor David Nahass covers key takeaways from Rail Insights 2025, presented by Railway Age. Speakers included: Katie Farmer, President and CEO, BNSF; Kenny Rocker, Executive Vice President Marketing and Sales, Union Pacific; Patrick J. Fuchs, Chair, Surface Transportation Board; Ed Elkins, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Norfolk Southern; and Kate Suprenuk, President of Leasing and Manufacturing, Union Tank Car Company & Procor. Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono and Nahass talked with them about top challenges, issues and trends affecting the North American rail market.
