Rail Group On Air

The Indiana Rail Road (INRD) named Joe Gioe President and CEO in mid-August 2024. A career railroader with 20 years of industry experience, he has held leadership positions at two Class I railroads, with most of his tenure at BNSF, where he was twice named Employee of the Year for intermodal train execution and delivery of major infrastructure projects in Transportation and Service Design. He also served as Assistant Vice President Network Optimization and Vice President Transportation at Norfolk Southern. A third-generation railroader whose family roots go back to the Central Railroad of New Jersey and Conrail, Gioe began his career as a conductor, locomotive engineer and front-line supervisor in 2005 and rose through management roles of increasing responsibility. Gioe joins Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono in a wide-ranging discussion on customer service, efficiency, safety, traffic growth and employee development at INRD.

Speaking with IRJ Editor-in-Chief Kevin Smith on this episode is Martin Howell, Transport Markets Director for the UK and Ireland at Worldline, a payment service provider, which also operates a number of operational systems for the railway in Britain. The discussion focuses on possible changes to ticketing in Britain and what Worldline is hoping to see from the new Labour government as it sets about reforming the country’s railway sector. Sponsored by Worldline. (Introductory music: “Tired Traveler on the Way to Home” by Andrew Codeman – CC BY 3.0)

New Jersey Transit President and CEO and Northeast Corridor (NEC) Commission Co-Chair Kevin Corbett and Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono discuss key issues involved with the 453-mile Washington D.C.-New York-Boston NEC, the nation’s busiest passenger rail system. The NEC—its main line and connecting corridors to Harrisburg, Pa.; Spuyten Duyvil, N.Y.; and Springfield, Mass.—support more than 800,000 daily trips on eight regional/commuter railroads and Amtrak’s intercity services. These services, of which NJ Transit is by far the largest provider, connect eight states and the District of Columbia on infrastructure segments with four different owners. The Northeast Corridor Commission convenes the NEC’s key stakeholders in state government, commuter agencies, the federal government and Amtrak. Given the huge SOGR (state of good repair) backlog on the NEC, what are the most pressing issues to be addressed? How does the Commission respond to critics who say that new, multi-billion-dollar capital projects like the Gateway Program should have been deferred and the money invested in SOGR projects? How can investment be balanced? The federal government has been investing billions in the NEC in recent years. Should the NEC states, and the public transportation agencies that are the primary users, have a larger cost share? Corbett addresses these questions and more in this edition of Rail Group On Air.

In its inaugural podcast, we hear from Walter Kastinger, head of sales at Linsinger’s mobile rail milling division. Kastinger presents the rail milling solutions that visitors to this year’s InnoTrans can expect to see at Linsinger’s exhibit at the outside display area. This includes a new rail milling train called Railmaster®; a new innovative rail surface treatment technology, Linsinger Smart Surface Technology; and a further development of Linsinger’s proven rail measurement technology.

Norfolk Southern Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer joined Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono at the 2024 Rail Insights Conference for this discussion on the changes that have been under way at the Class I railroad. Much has been accomplished, and much more work needs to be done.

How can Class I scheduled railroad operations translate into volume growth? What are the opportunities for industrial development? Why are short line and regional partnerships key to overall rail industry success? Is more culture change needed at the Class I’s? Farrukh A. Bezar offers his perspectives during this discussion with Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono. Bezar has more than 30 years of consulting, investment and industry experience in the transportation, logistics, financial services and supply chain industries. His areas of expertise include strategic planning and growth strategy, operations improvement, sales effectiveness and mergers and acquisitions support. A Founding Partner of Miami-based Lynwood Partners, he is a strategic advisor, board member and investor across the transportation and logistics sector. Bezar spent five years at CSX as Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer and Senior Vice President, Marketing. Launching his career as a Senior Analyst, Intermodal Marketing & Sales at the Santa Fe Railway, he has also held senior-level positions at The Clarendon Group, Oliver Wyman, A.T. Kearney and Booz Allen & Hamilton.

Norfolk Southern on June 17 released its 2024 Midyear Report on Safety Accomplishments, which summarizes the railroad’s organizational actions, safety improvements and partnerships enacted in the past 16 months. “When we make a promise, we deliver on that promise,” NS President and CEO Alan Shaw noted. “That started with our Six-Point Safety Plan announced last spring. While the initiatives in the plan are based on the preliminary findings following the [Feb. 3, 2023] East Palestine, Ohio, derailment, our focus is on increasing safety across all our operations —in every facility and every community where we operate.” In this Rail Group On Air Podcast, Shaw discusses all these safety initiatives with Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono. He also talks about strategy and opportunities following the proxy battle with Ancora Holdings. “I’m encouraged that we preserved the right and the ability to implement our groundbreaking strategy,” he said. “I also know that shareholders were very clear: They expect results—and we’ve delivered lots of results.”

Danielle Smith, Premier of Canada’s Alberta Province, discusses freight and passenger rail in the Province from economic, social and environmental standpoints with Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono. CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City are essential to Canada’s economy and the nation’s growing role as an exporter, as well as Alberta’s overall prosperity, Smith believes. A former columnist and media personality who has been serving as the 19th Premier of Alberta and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) since October 2022, Smith also strongly supports passenger rail—and is a bit of an enthusiast. The Alberta government on April 29 announced a Passenger Rail Plan aimed at increasing passenger rail service in the province. It will assess the feasibility of passenger rail in the province, including regional (intercity), commuter and high-speed services, “will look forward decades and identify concrete actions that can be taken now, as well as in the future, to build the optimal passenger rail system for the province.” Alberta’s government has released a Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI) to “seek world-class knowledge and consultant services as a first step toward the development of the Passenger Rail Master Plan for Alberta.” Following this process, a Request for Proposal (RFP) will be issued to select a consultant to develop the Passenger Rail Master Plan, which is expected to be completed by summer 2025.

Norfolk Southern Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Ed Elkins began his railroad career at Norfolk Southern in 1988 as a Road Brakeman after serving in the United States Marine Corps. Appointed CMO in 2021, he leads the company’s Intermodal, Automotive and Industrial Products business divisions, and also manages the Real Estate, Industrial Development, Short Line Marketing, Field Sales, and Customer Logistics business groups. In this Rail Group On Air Podcast, Elkins and Railway Age Editor-in Chief William C. Vantuono discuss NS’s accomplishments in 2023 attracting new business and growing existing business, as well as expectations going forward. What markets and commodities offer the most growth potential? In 2023, NS invested $1 billion in infrastructure improvements. Elkins talks about the role marketing plays in the Class I’s capital investment strategy and funding allocation. He also touches upon the tools, financial or other, that can be leveraged to incentivize businesses to locate on the railroad. Beginning as brakeman in 1988, Elkins served as a a conductor, locomotive engineer and relief yardmaster. Following time in Operations, he spent two decades in Intermodal Marketing. In 2016, he was named Group Vice President of Chemicals Marketing, and in 2018 promoted to Vice President Industrial Products. Currently, Elkins serves as the Vice Chair of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and sits on the boards of directors of the National Association of Manufacturers and TTX Company. He also serves on the Georgia State University Marketing RoundTable and is a member of The Conference Board, Inc. on the Council for CMOs. Elkins is a native of Southwest Virginia. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Virginia’s College at Wise and an MBA from Old Dominion University with a concentration in Port & Maritime Economics.

As Norfolk Southern Vice President Transportation, Joe Gioe is responsible for leading a culture of safe, predictable and consistent service by empowering transportation team members to meet the needs of NS customers. He also leads the Performance Excellence (PE) group, which is responsible for establishing operating processes and measuring performance. The group partners closely with Operations leaders and their teams, including Transportation, Advanced Train Control, Engineering and Safety. PE’s mission is standardizing NS’s needs to achieve its performance mission. The PE team does this through standardizing process. At the ballast line, the PE team works to integrate processes, regardless of craft, from multiple disciplines so NS can provide the best service and grow. PE is housed in the Operations department but touches many different teams throughout NS. The team is focused on safety first, followed by supporting operational excellence. The team cascades best practices throughout the network to increase information delivery speed. PE also provides daily tactical support to departments throughout Operations. The team is working on standardizing best practices and getting standard operating procedures embedded throughout Operations, laying the bedrock for safety. The team is also focused on enhancing and refining technology to deliver reliable, resilient service. PE’s long-term goal are to position Norfolk Southern as the leader in continuous improvement, to standardize and then optimize, to be a constant learning organization, and to be proactive with adapting. Appointed Vice President Transportation in 2023, Joe Gioe has 19 years of experience in the rail industry. He joined Norfolk Southern in 2021 as Assistant Vice President Network Optimization. Previously, he was at BNSF Railway, where he held roles of increasing responsibility in Transportation and Service Design. A third-generation railroader whose family roots go back to the Central Railroad of New Jersey and Conrail, Gioe began his career as a conductor and locomotive engineer. He earned a Bachelor of Applied Science from Colorado State University Global.