Part 1: 2026 MOW Spending Report

By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor

Each year, freight and passenger railroads need to weigh many factors when determining their maintenance-of-way (MOW) spending plan and project programs.

The typical ones include their overall annual budgets, the availability of materials and contractor services, and track time windows to perform work and primary MOW needs.

But the problem for many railroads this year is that there are atypical constraints they needed to consider when determining their 2026 MOW programs. One is soaring inflation, federal tariffs and other machinations that are heavily impacting project costs, to the point some in the rail industry refer to it as an “unprecedented” jump in construction costs.

Other extenuating factors are continuing economic uncertainty that has made revenue, budget and project forecasting more difficult, and a murkier environment surrounding available federal or state grants and other government funding that has hampered railroads’ efforts to obtain financial assistance for projects.

Manpower availability is a big impediment of late, too. For example, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority has found its ability to carry out projects continues to be hampered by a lack of technical staff, particularly in rail-related disciplines, says Joseph Shaffer, the authority’s director of engineering and project development.

“Younger staff are being poached by consultants that then offer their services at a substantial markup,” he says.

Despite so many roadblocks and detours, it’s encouraging that many railroads still have found a path to a solid MOW program. That they collectively have allocated a healthy amount of dollars for work this year is reassuring, as well.

The 2026 MOW Spending Report shows that among 47 freight and passenger railroads that provided 2025 and 2026 budget figures, 21 plan to spend more, 18 expect to spend less and eight project to spend the same in ’26.

Overall, the report features the MOW programs planned by 69 Class Is, regionals, short lines, holding companies and transit-rail providers. The information primarily was gleaned from our 25th annual MOW survey that was distributed to more than 100 railroads, with some details obtained from event presentations, websites or press releases.

Among the seven Class Is listed in the report, only BNSF Railway and Norfolk Southern Railway have budgeted the same amount for MOW while the other five have budgeted less, albeit not by a lot.

The spending news is a bit better when analyzing the 33 small railroad listings in the report: Fifteen of the 25 companies, regionals or short lines that provided budget figures have allocated more dollars to MOW this year.

Genesee & Wyoming Inc. — which owns more than 100 regionals and short lines in North America — plans to spend $568 million versus 2025’s $453 million to install more continuous-welded rail (CWR). The holding company expects to install or replace 353 miles of CWR in total.

Meanwhile, of the 29 listed passenger-rail constituents, 16 provided budget figures, with seven set to spend more, six poised to spend less and three prepped to spend the same amount versus 2025 levels.

For MTA New York City Transit (NYCT), the ’26 budget shot up to $574.4 million from 2025’s $404.8 million as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s largest single-year investment in transit infrastructure.

“The commitments advance critical accessibility upgrades, state-of-good-repair work and major megaprojects across the system,” NYCT officials noted in their survey.

To learn more about freight and passenger railroads’ commitment to MOW this year, peruse the information in the three sections highlighted above, which details the budgets, key projects and work items pegged for 2026.