Don't Dwell On It

The railcar leasing industry didn't appear out of nowhere - it was born the moment railroads stopped trying to do absolutely everything (they even owned hotels + golf courses!) + started focusing on the one thing they actually do best.  In (Rail)Car Talk , Harris + Sydney are back with Erica Ray, SVP of Sales at AITX, for Part 2 of their conversation, this time focusing on the mechanics of ra...

Erica Ray, SVP of Leasing at AITX, didn't plan on a career in rail, but rail, as it turns out, had a plan for her. In "From RACS to Rail Leasing," Harris + Sydney sit down with Erica to trace a career that spans revenue accounting at Norfolk Southern (ask her all about RACS!), a front-row seat to the PTC era, a little rail-inspired stand-up, + a move to equipment leasing at AITX, wh...

They own the equipment that keeps freight rail moving, but chances are, you don’t really give them a second thought. In “The Lessor of Two Evils”, Harris + Sydney really zoom out to talk about one of the rail industry's most essential + oft overlooked players: railcar lessors. Lessors own + lease cars that shippers depend on to move their goods across the freight rail network. It’s a simple p...

The forecast is calling for grain, grain, grain…with a slight chance of geopolitical disruption + a 40% probability that everything changes again before next week. In Cloudy with a Chance of Carloads , Harris + David return with Telegraph’s Q2 2026 Market Consist . As we head into summer, they break down what they are seeing in data - mostly that grain carloads are looking really strong, chemical...

Railroads have always used technology, but the question is: are they using the right technology for the current time? In The Fast + the Cautious , Harris + Sydney explore one of the most debated, + perhaps most misunderstood, topics across the industry: technology adoption across the railroads. They make the case that railroads are doing better than they are typically given credit for, given the c...

When conflict half a world away closes the Strait of Hormuz + sends West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude past $100 a barrel, the ripple effects don't just stay in the Middle East, they also show up on American railroads. In "Crude Intentions," Harris + David connect the dots between the escalating energy crisis + what it actually means for shippers, equipment owners, + Class I operat...

In this episode of “Talk Track”, David sits down with Larry Gross - a 46-year rail industry veteran, award-winning “intermodalist,” + long-time market analyst - to tackle the tough question: does US intermodal have a long-term growth problem? Larry breaks down the data behind his viewpoint - comparing intermodal’s 10-year performance to GDP, import TEUs, + long-haul truckload. He also explains why...

In Season 2 Episode 2 of Don't Dwell On It , Harris + Sydney revisit Peter Sims’ Little Bets + explore how small, iterative experiments can compound into meaningful change - personally, professionally, + across the rail industry. In a year that is sure to be defined by uncertainty, they argue that waiting for clarity isn’t a winning strategy, rather, making smart, manageable bets is. From rai...

In “A Series of Uncertain Events”, Harris + David break down the “Telegraph Market Consist”  for 1H 2026 + what the next three to six months may hold for freight rail. The outlook is…murky, with carload volumes projected to dip 3–5% + intermodal 5–6%. The bright side? This all potentially ripens the conditions for what looks like a shipper’s market. They unpack the forces behind those lower volume...

The merger saga just took a dramatic turn. In “The STB Strikes Back”, Harris + David are breaking down the STB’s decision to reject the UP-NS application, as well as what that could signal for the future of the potential transcontinental railroad.  After months of speculation by everyone from competitors to customers, we have finally seen some actual regulator input + that alone has brought a bit...

Welcome to Season 2 of Don’t Dwell On It  ! In this premiere episode, Harris + Sydney find themselves reflecting on 2025, which was a year Harris affectionately dubbed the year of distraction + Sydney pointedly described as a never-ending saga. The year as a whole was dominated by headlines - from the uncertainties around tariffs that dominated the news cycles in the first half of the year to the...

In this episode of “Don’t Dwell On It”, Harris + Sydney sit down with Amaro Luna, Chief Product Officer + co-founder at Telegraph, to explore why better data is truly the backbone of the modern rail ecosystem. Drawing on over a decade working in the transportation industry, Amaro explains how small information failures can create massive operational waste, + why shippers should care deeply about d...

The proposed Union Pacific + Norfolk Southern merger has been framed as a means of establishing more competition among railroads, but is this message supported by the math? In “The Importance of Being Competitive”, David is joined by guest host Dr. Jason Miller, a professor of Supply Chain Management at the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University, to help break down the logic behind...

Every railyard has its ghosts - near misses + moments that still echo down the main line. In “The Tell-Tale Yard”, Harris is joined by guest host, Sabin Reynolds of Watco, to swap stories from their days in Class I operations, where some shifts came with equal parts adrenaline + anxiety. From middle of nowhere shakeups to their split-second decisions that may haunt you for years, they revisit some...

Telegraph’s first-ever Market Consist is here and Harris + David are pulling back the curtain on what the data really tells us about the state of freight rail. From intermodal’s potential slowdown and Chicago hub velocity to the role of USMCA in protecting critical cross-border flows, they dig into where the industry stands and where it’s headed. Is the growth runway for intermodal as wide as many...

BNSF + CSX made waves by announcing a new coast-to-coast intermodal service designed to strengthen east to west connectivity - a timely counterpoint to the proposed UP + NS merger. In “Pride + Intermodal”, Harris + David discuss whether this is the start of a second mega-merger conversation (spoiler alert: Uncle Warren has indicated it’s not), and if this move could complicate things for UP + NS w...

Episode Description: When it comes to rail service, shippers have plenty to say - and if you’re not out there listening, you’re probably missing at least half of it! In “Much Ado About Shipping”, Harris + Sydney are joined by Shachar Astor, Chief Growth Officer at Telegraph, for a frank conversation about what shippers really think when it comes to their rail service. Having logged well over 3,000...

It’s the story currently dominating industry news: the pending merger between Union Pacific + Norfolk Southern. Beyond the headlines, this merger raises big questions about operational integration, cultural fit, + what it means for rail competition. In this first episode of Talk Track , Harris + David draw on their respective railroad experience to unpack what this merger could mean for shippers,...

Everyone wants visibility. Platforms promise it. Dashboards display it. Operators opine about it in reverent tones. But here’s the question - now that we have the capabilities to see everything, why does it feel like we are still guessing? In this inaugural episode, Harris + Sydney dive into the importance of visibility for railroads + shippers alike. They unpack the data that is meaningful in mak...