The freight-centric American railroad industry is sanguine about tariffs. The threat of disruption has not yet put up a red signal on investment. The Association of American Railroads has said as much in its current newsletter, distributed to business interests around the world. They list a whole portfolio of positive investments, albeit given the green light before the regime change in Washington.
American railroads have been eager to relate their investment plans, despite uneven tracks in the overall economy. According to the AAR, customers and operators have been collaborating in several sectors and locations to improve the position of rail-based freight operations. Despite concerns about trans-border traffic between the US and Mexico and Canada, there remains much optimism among the major Class I railroads, with a huge volume of domestic traffic to move.
Steel has a positive outlook
In America, steel has also been in the news this week. However, it’s in a rather more positive light. It’s unlike the news from the UK, where a threat of closure hung over the last two blast furnaces in the country, at Scunthorpe. Quite a different story has come out of Kentucky-based Southern Coil Solutions. The stockholder has just opened a new US$60m (€53m) rail-served storage facility in the community of Bowling Green.
According to SCS, the new 17,000 sq m facility utilises AI-powered automated storage systems to streamline operations. They claim it will reduce loading times from 45 minutes to just 7 minutes. The facility was designed with rail freight handling in mind, and the collaboration of railroad operator CSX Transportation. “Convenient access to rail transport will significantly enhance efficiency and reduce transportation costs for SCS and its customers,” said the railroad.
Connections across both borders
We look forward to providing rail service to the company’s new warehousing operations,” said Jody Lassiter, the manager of industrial development at CSX Transportation. “[It’s] helping enhance the region’s logistical capabilities and reaffirming our commitment to fostering economic growth and development in the area.”
Meanwhile, Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), a railroad operator with tracks in Canada, USA and Mexico, has already opened the Patrick J. Ottensmeyer International Railway Bridge over the Rio Grande (as reported by our sister news service WorldCargo News). The bridge emphasises the railroad’s connections across both borders, and an optimistic outlook on the tariff regime imposed by the US President Trump’s administration, which could adversely affect trade between all three nations.
Private investment
In America, railroads typically fund their own infrastructure, unlike the European model. AAR argues that there is still plenty of positive news from the US railroad sector. Norfolk Southern, for example, completed US$1 billion (€880m) in infrastructure upgrades in 2024 and supported 149 customer projects worth US$4.3 billion (€3.8bn), creating more than 9,000 jobs, according to the AAR. Prominent among those projects is the US$200 million (€176m) “3B Corridor”, which will expand rail access to the Port of Mobile, boosting Alabama’s maritime economy and key industries.
“Freight railroads invest an average of $23 billion [just over €20bn] of their own money each year,” said the AAR, emphasising that no taxpayer funding is involved. “These private investments ease the burden on public budgets while advancing national goals like stronger supply chains, reshoring manufacturing, lower costs, and local economic growth.”