Below is the latest edition of The Signal ™ — our biweekly newsletter delivering freight rail news, insights, and interesting facts. Enjoying it? Subscribe to get the email sent straight to your inbox every other week. You can also check out past editions here.
Big Kids. Big Toy Sales. Big Supply Chains.
According to Circana, toy sales to adults 18 and older jumped 25% in the first half of 2026, while households without children accounted for 55% of toy sales. From collectibles to childhood favorites, nostalgia and fandom are fueling big business.
Just look at Hasbro. Its Magic: The Gathering franchise brought in more than $600 million in third-quarter revenue, up 34% year-over-year. Its consumer products business also grew 4%, with familiar names like Transformers and Marvel helping boost sales.
This is all a great example of the rising demand for intermodal freight. By connecting ships, trains, and trucks, intermodal freight helps move toys and other consumer goods from ports to distribution centers and store shelves efficiently and cost-effectively.
👆 The video above is a little old, but it’s a great overview of Magic: The Gathering.
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CSX Gears Up for Growth at Chambersburg Intermodal Terminal
Speaking of intermodal, CSX is investing in its Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Intermodal Terminal to keep pace with growing demand. Terminal volume has climbed more than 20% since 2023, reaching 192,000 units in 2025.
To keep freight moving, CSX added a new gantry crane, which lifts containers between trains and trucks, and two reach stackers, which are specialized vehicles that lift, move, and stack containers around the terminal. Expanded parking and additional facility improvements will also help the terminal handle growing freight volumes.
And the team behind those operations is delivering an impressive milestone: more than a decade injury-free, dating back to 2012. As Terminal Manager Tracy Brasfield puts it, “These investments help us work smarter, but it’s the people who make the difference.”
Policy Priority: Environmental Permitting
Freight railroads invest tens of billions of dollars every year to replace aging bridges, expand rail yards, modernize terminals and keep America’s supply chain moving. But there’s a roadblock: projects that are ready to build can spend years waiting for environmental approvals.
The problem isn’t environmental protections. It’s a permitting process that can be slow, inconsistent, and unpredictable, with overlapping agency reviews, changing requirements and costly delays.
Protecting the environment and building better infrastructure shouldn’t be an either-or choice. Railroads support commonsense reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Clean Water Act that would bring clearer rules, more consistent standards and predictable timelines.
And the stakes go well beyond rail. When infrastructure projects stall, capacity gets constrained, congestion grows and businesses face delays moving the goods Americans rely on.
Expert Input: Automated track inspections can help improve safety.
A recent Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure report uses FRA data to examine derailments, the most frequent and consequential rail accidents, and puts debates over labor, technology, and inspection reform into context for policymakers. Here are the big takeaways:
Rail safety has improved significantly, but derailments remain an important opportunity for continued progress. FRA data show a substantial long-term decline in derailments and derailments per million train miles, even as derailments remain the most frequent type of rail accident.
Track-related causes make automated track inspections (ATI) especially relevant to further safety gains. Track, Roadbed, and Structure is the largest reported primary-cause family for derailments, with Track Geometry the largest subcategory, putting track inspection squarely at the center of opportunities for improvement.
Technology and performance-based regulation can help drive the next generation of safety improvements. ATI can measure track conditions frequently and precisely during normal operations, creating opportunities to improve safety and inspection efficiency while allowing practices to evolve as data demonstrates better outcomes.
📅 Upcoming Event: Cargo Theft Webinar
Organized theft is a huge problem for America’s supply chains. In 2025 alone, major U.S. railroads reported more than 75,000 theft incidents and over $200 million in losses. In fact, just recently thieves stole nearly $1 million worth of sports and Pokémon trading cards from a FedEx truck in California, while authorities arrested four suspects linked to diesel thefts from parked commercial trucks.
October 28 at 1 p.m. ET: Join GoRail and leaders from rail, trucking, retail, and Capitol Hill for a discussion on the growing threat of organized theft, the challenges of stopping criminal networks, and how the bipartisan Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) could help law enforcement crack down on theft across state lines.
Holiday Shopping Heats Up, and Freight Rail Is Already Rolling
The National Retail Federation (NRF) expects holiday retail sales to grow 4.2% in November and December compared with 2025, with higher-income shoppers helping drive demand. Retailers are gearing up, too, with an estimated 325,000 to 375,000 seasonal workers expected to join the holiday rush.
And guess who’s been getting ready for months? Freight railroads. Long before shoppers start checking off their gift lists, railroads are already moving holiday merchandise across the country. In fact, the holiday shipping season kicks off as early as summer, helping retailers stock their shelves before the shopping frenzy begins.
Railroader Spotlight
Six generations and counting! Norfolk Southern’s Brittany “Britt” Morrell is carrying on a family railroading tradition that spans more than a century. As Group Manager of Intermodal Customer Logistics, she helps solve problems and keep freight moving. After 13 years with Norfolk Southern, she still follows her father’s advice: “Understand the problem, be part of the solution.”
Industry Reads
- AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPORTATION: U.S. container imports reach highest September volume on record
- FREIGHTWAVES: Truck safety blitzes uncover hundreds of violations across US
- THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Railroad Earnings Rise as More Cargo Moves From Trucks to Trains
- DC VELOCITY: NRF says holiday season spending will rise 4.2% over 2025