At the Switch: Rail’s Second Chance

September 09, 2026

After a lengthy freight recession, U.S. railroads are at a pivotal moment as shippers increasingly shift to intermodal; keeping that momentum on track will depend on service, reliability and optionality.

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By Dan Zeiger
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In a life and career spent around railroads, Paul Tonsager, MBA, has had an engineer’s-seat view of business cycles, from the boom years powered by coal and paper to a downturn that bottomed out with the service and labor crises of 2022.

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