NRC chairman's column: People, leadership themes resonated at NRC annual conference

Everyone knows the NRC’s annual conference is all about networking and relationship building. It’s about people!

We meet with leaders, at all levels and stages of their careers, from across the industry. We get first-hand information and insights to make plans for the year ahead. We collaborate with railroad personnel, other contractors and suppliers, and explore teaming.

Networking is what you expect at this conference and it’s tremendously valuable. But the 1,400-plus leaders who attended the NRC’s 2025 Annual Conference in Marco Island, Florida, got much, much more. In addition to the strategy and details of the capital plans of major Class I and short-line railroads, we got a crash course in responsibility and leadership. These themes resonated throughout the conference.

Speakers and panelists presented goals, ideas and data that challenged the status quo and encouraged us to look at our industry, ourselves, and how we fit in a new way. No one challenged us more than our featured guest for the fireside chat.

CSX’s Hinrichs: ‘We are not independent actors’

CSX President & CEO Joe Hinrichs, a relative railroading newcomer, demonstrated his understanding of our industry and where it needs to go during the informal discussion with NRC Vice Chairman Curtis Bilow and me.

“We are not independent actors. We must work together,” he stressed. “No matter where you work, the objective is to get people to work together — all the time. That’s the most difficult thing to do but it’s also the most powerful.”

Mr. Hinrichs recalled researching our industry and to his surprise learned that three leading railroads were among the lowest-rated employers on Glassdoor.

“To change service for our customers, we need to engage employees,” he said. “They need to be valued, appreciated, respected, and listened to. All of us want that. We need to stop fighting, work together, serve customers and have fun!”

NRC Chairman Joe Daloisio (left) and NRC Vice Chairman Curtis Bilow (right) moderated a candid discussion with CSX’s President & CEO Joe Hinrichs (center) during a fireside chat on Jan. 6, a highlight of the NRC’s 2025 Annual Conference in Marco Island, Florida.

Mr. Hinrichs elaborated that we need to teach our managers to become leaders, which is about service to other people.

“How you treat people matters,” he said. “To keep people, you have to create an environment where people feel valued and are able to grow.”

He explained that bringing back pride to CSX and to our industry is more sustainable for the future: “I want our people to be proud of how we do it and to be proud to be on the team.”

Hinrichs asserted we are all stewards of our industry and encouraged us to spend time with our employees and co-workers, to recruit the best people we can get and to build trusting relationships.

“There is no change without trust, and no trust without a relationship,” he said. “Our industry has so much potential. … If this industry would focus on customers, this industry can and should grow. … If this whole industry became obsessed with how we operate safely and efficiently, we would all win.”

These are powerful messages for all of us!

Mr. Hinrichs was one of several speakers who inspired me to think about the possibilities in our industry and what I personally can do to make our industry win. And he reinforced my pride in railway contractors and suppliers, my strong belief in our indispensable role and why I feature the lines below to close out all of my columns.

“We aren’t just in this industry. We are this industry.”

Joe Daloisio, NRC chairman
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