Welcome to Progressive Railroading's second edition of Women of Influence in Rail, a recognition program launched in 2025 to highlight the significant contributions that women are making in rail.

Progressive Railroading has long reported on rail workforce development, including efforts to recruit and retain enough skilled employees to fill openings left by aging workers and a changing technological landscape.

Although progress has been made over the past decade, women remain vastly underrepresented in rail. According to Data USA, women made up just 9.4% of the rail transportation workforce in 2023. So, as railroads and related businesses compete with other higher-tech fields for employees, many companies see this gender gap as an opportunity for growth and are engaged in outreach efforts to promote railroading to women who, historically, may not have considered it as a career.

To compile the 2026 Class of honorees, we asked businesses to nominate female employees for recognition in one of four categories: Leadership, Innovation, Technology and Sustainability. We asked companies to explain how their nominees' hard work and influence drives positive change in those categories.

While the response to last year's nomination call was overwhelming, this year's response was even stronger. We received nominations from Class Is, short lines and regionals, passenger railroads, suppliers, contractors, engineering firms, rail shippers and industry trade associations.

In the following pages, you'll find the profiles of 55 influential women, along with insights from their employers on how they are helping to transform railroading. We hope you find their stories as inspiring as we do.

— Julie Sneider, Senior Editor