Railroads Experienced a Successful 2024
Written by David C. Lester, Editor-in-Chief
Courtesy of ZagAlex via Shutterstock
ATLANTA - From the December 2024 issue of Railway Track and Structures, here is the State of the Industry for 2024 and a Maintenance of Way Outlook for 2025.
The past year has been pretty good for the rail industry. The majority of respondents to our annual survey reported that 2024 was a good year, with nearly 70% of respondents reporting that they expect 2025 will be even better than 2024. About 50% of respondents said that inflation had a significant or tremendous impact on their business, yet with inflation and interest rates dropping somewhat, it remains to be seen if those measures will continue to drop in the coming year.
Another bright spot is that 30% of responding transit agencies reported that ridership rose significantly in 2024, while about 45% reported that it rose somewhat during the year. Moreover, yearly 55% of transit respondents said that ridership had reached pandemic levels during the past year.
Interestingly, despite the tremendous number of stimulus dollars poured into transportation infrastructure in 2024, just over 63% report that federal/state/local governments did not do enough to meet the demands of rail during the year.
Regarding maintenance-of-way spending, about 45% said they spent more in 2024 than the previous year, and 45% said they would be spending more in 2024. The industry experienced some ups and downs during 2024. About 10% reported that they were tremendously impacted by natural disasters, and 20% said they had been impacted significantly.
With Brightline having opened in September 2023, 2024 was the first full year of service from Miami to Orlando, and performance and ridership seem to be doing well.
One Class I railroad, Norfolk Southern, went through several tough events but reported strong third quarter earnings in 2024: pursuit by investor Ancora, continued remediation of East Palestine, tremendous storm damage from Hurricane Helene, particularly in the Asheville, N.C. area, and the departure of President and CEO Alan Shaw and Chief Legal Officer Nabanita Nag after disclosure of an inappropriate relationship.
Regarding 2025, things are always uncertain when there is a change in United States presidential leadership, particularly when the political party in power changes. many thanks to those who participated in our survey of 2024 and 2025, and best wishes for the new year.
