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October 2026
A few years ago, CN CEO Tracy Robinson tagged RailTrends® the “Woodstock of railroading” — maybe the best thing that ever happened to me in my career and the instigator behind me throwing song lyrics into a lot of my writing.
If the last 22 years built up an ever-growing rock festival atmosphere, RT 2026 (Nov. 19-20) promises to truly be The Rock & Roll Circus (i.e., the 1968 concert film hosted by the Rolling Stones). Why? Well, the Stones have lasted forever, and in performance they have really only gotten better. We think that applies to us, too. But that’s not all, step right up!
We’ve got a lot to thrill and amaze you! Aside from five of the seven Class I CEOs (including Tracy), all four STB commissioners and a U.S. Air Force general (General Randall Reed, Commander, United States Transportation Command!), RT will feature clowns (I’ll leave it to you decide who, but I will be on stage a lot, as Ringmaster), high-flying acts, three rings of rail entertainment, global talents and an elephant (not to mention hippopotami). In place of a magician, we will present our 2026 Railroad Innovator Award recipient Genesee & Wyoming CEO Michael Miller!
For the benefit of Mr. Kite — and for you! I’ll break down the agenda by the categories listed above.
The three rings refers to the hidden star of every RT, the audience, which comprises a range of rail stakeholders, players, investors, analysts and, rare for a conference, most of the speakers. Several times we’ve had incoming CEOs attend, but not present.
High-flying acts are the growth propellent for the industry and refer in part to tech, an area recently liberated by the FRA under Administrator David Fink and a topic he’ll cover. So will our rail technology outlook panel, led by MxV Rail CEO Kari Gonzales and featuring RailVision's David BenDavid, Spatial Media's Aaron Bernard, Tracsis' Joe Eldridge and Wisetech Global's Chris Haas. Also in this group: sponsored presentations from Wabtec (Gina Trombley), TXI (Adam Schanfield) and Nexxiot (Ken Mannka).
In addition, short lines remain the growth catalyst in carload and are well-represented by ASLRRA’s Chuck Baker and Mr. Miller, and the annual panel led by Norfolk Southern’s Stefan Loeb. The panel features leaders of R. J. Corman (Justin Broyles), Lake State Railway (Mark Rosner), RDC (Ida Posner) and Pinsly (Ryan Ratledge).
The “Side Show” here is not a pejorative — I’m referring to outside observers, which include the annual Oliver Wyman discussion led by Adriene Bailey; our annual analyst panel (me, Rick Paterson and Larry Gross); and our annual consultancy panel (BCG's David Schaar, McKinsey & Co.'s John Murnane, PwC's Rajeet Mohan and Tech Mahindra's Jaya Bhat).
Hippos! Other important players include our annual leadoff grouping of the carrier trade association leaders from the AAR (Ian Jefferies), ASLRRA (Baker), Railway Association of Canada (Eric Harvey) and, for the first time, the Mexican Railway Association (Francisco Fabila)!
Our industry association panel features the NRC (Ashley Weiland), REMSA (Urszula Soucie), IANA (Andrew Sibold) and old friend Tom Jensen, formerly of UPS and new head of the RSI. All will have strong opinions about one of the rampaging hippos, the political battler incorrectly labeled as “technology and productivity versus safety” — substitute “and” for “versus” and you’ll get a prize on the Midway.
Global talents is meant to shine a light on RAC’s Harvey and MRA’s Fabila as well as presentations from the CEOs of CPKC (Keith Creel) and CN (Tracy); and, back after winning RT’s 2025 “Rookie of the Year,” GMXT/FXE CEO Fernando Lopez Guerra.
For a year, I have been calling discussion of the transcon merger application “the elephant in the room,” and we remind you of our three rings and other entertainments, the elephant always steals the show. We’ve got analysts stalking the elephant, a panel of experts (Roger Nober/Farrukh Bezar/David Woodruff) playing Attenborough watching the herd. We also have the big beasts themselves: for “YES” we have NS’s CEO Mark George! UP’s COO Eric Gehringer! For “Team Abstain” we have CN’s Tracy. And for “NO WAY,” we have Keith; CSX CMO Maryclare Kenney; and, a special treat for us as it’s her first RT appearance, BNSF’s Katie Farmer! Who bags the pachyderm will be judged by a panel (STB) of four, and we got ‘em all: Michelle Schultz, Karen Hedlund, the suddenly prolific (and long-time RT vet) Richard Kloster and Big Game Hunter (not that “Hunter”) Chairman Patrick Fuchs!
Life is a carnival — it’s in the book
Life is a carnival — take another look.
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