Railway Age’s 2026 Short Line and Regional of the Year program recognizes two Honorees and two Honorable Mentions for outstanding achievement—from growing through strategic investment, providing top-notch service, and positioning themselves as technology innovators to delivering value to the industry, partners, customers and the local communities they serve each day. These small-road standouts were selected from more than 20 finalists in the United States and Canada.
Union County Industrial Railroad, a North Shore Railroad Company affiliate, and Georgia Central Railway, a Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary, are our Short Line and Regional Railroads of the Year, respectively. Earning Honorable Mention are Sierra Northern Railway (Short Line) and R. J. Corman Railroad Company’s Nashville & Eastern Railroad (Regional).
Inside the March 2026 issue, you’ll also find these feature stories:
- Not Your ‘Run of the Mill’ Gondolas — Improved carbody materials and innovative designs are transforming these long-lived warhorses into state-of-the-art railcars.
- Building Successful Industrial Development Spaces — Norfolk Southern and Watco provide prime examples of how railroads can attract manufacturing plants to their systems and grow business.
- Intermodal Focus: South Carolina Ports Authority — Now the No. 8 U.S. port by volume and still looking to grow, South Carolina Ports Authority boasts the deepest harbor on the East Coast and “can handle any ship, any tide, any time.”
- Collision Avoidance, the AI Way — Creating safer rail operations through artificial intelligence applications.
- Wheel/Rail Vertical Impact Force Measurement Comparison — MxV Rail’s study covers three key techniques: high-accuracy instrumented wheelsets, a new bearing adapter that blends force measurement with acceleration compensation, and a high-accuracy in-track bi-circuit.
Plus, Railway Age Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Frank Wilner profiles Michelle A. Shultz, the Surface Transportation Board’s “preordained ‘Energizer Bunny’”; Financial Editor David Nahass in a column and companion podcast talks with Trinity Industries Inc. CFO Eric Marchetto about the “ocean of capital chasing trains”; and John Hankey, Contributing Editor and railroad historian and preservation project consultant, explains why the Bicentennial of American Railroading should serve as a kind of awakening, as there is much to be gained, he says, by nesting railroading’s 200 years deeply within America’s 250.
