May 15, 2019 – Hundreds of railroaders and rail industry representatives, including a team from CSX, pulled into Capitol Hill on May 8, 2019 to reinforce lawmakers’ understanding of railroading’s safety, environmental and economic advantages for carrying the nation’s freight.

Railroad Day on Capitol Hill is an annual event that gives railroads and rail-related businesses an opportunity to remind Congress of the rail industry’s importance to the U.S. economy and to advance the industry’s legislative priorities. Railroad Day participants urged lawmakers to:

• Extend and make permanent the short line railroad 45G tax credit, which allows the nation’s small, mostly local Class II and III freight railroads, to preserve and upgrade rail service for thousands of rail customers and communities;
• Oppose longer and heavier trucks, which do not pay the cost of the damage the cause highways and bridges and are unsound public policy; and
• Preserve balanced economic regulation of the railroad industry, so it can continue to invest in infrastructure and meet the demands of customers for safe, efficient and cost-effective freight transportation.

In addition, Railroad Day is an opportunity for industry representatives to underscore the many benefits of rail transportation. This year, they emphasized that railroads are safe and getting safer, with train derailments down 9 percent from 2009 to 2018, and that rail is the most-sustainable mode for moving goods over land, with an average train able to move one ton of freight 479 miles on one gallon of fuel.

CSX had a strong showing at the event with 20 employees participating in the full day of meetings with lawmakers and staff members who vote on key issues that affect our railroad.