CSX taps Steve Angel as CEO to drive next phase of growth

Jacksonville-based Class I railroad carrier CSX Corp. said today that Steve Angel was named as its new President and Chief Executive Office by the company’s Board of Directors, effective September 28. Angel will replaced previous president and CEO Joe Hinrichs, whom has departed the company and had been with CSX for three years, joining the company in September 2022.

“We are excited to welcome Steve as our new CEO. He is a visionary in creating long-term value and an expert in guiding companies through significant transformation. The Board conducted a very targeted process, and Steve was the clear choice to lead CSX,” said John Zillmer, Chairman of CSX. “The Board is laser-focused on advancing CSX’s strategic priorities and maximizing shareholder value, and we are confident Steve has the right skillset, expertise, and background to help us deliver our next phase of growth.”

Angell has more than 45 years of experience in leading experience leading large, public companies and generating strong shareholder returns, according to CSX, with the company adding he has a long and proven track record of leading high-performing teams, fostering a collaborative culture, and driving operational excellence and growth, while maintaining disciplined capital allocation and attractive returns on capital.

He served as CEO of Praxair, an industrial gases and engineering company, from 2007-2018, until a 2018 merger with Linde, at which point he served as CEO of the combined company until 2022, when he was named Chair—and will retire from its board in January 2026. During his time there, Linde and Praxair had total shareholder returns of 219% and 257%, respectively. And when Linde and Praxair merged, the company’s market capitalization increased by 141%, or $131 billion in value, which outperformed the S5MATR Index. He commenced his career at General Electric, holding various management roles, including working with locomotive and rail operations.

“I’m truly honored to step into the role of CEO and am grateful for the trust that John and the Board of Directors have placed in me,” said Angel. “It’s a privilege to join a company with such a proud history and an incredibly dedicated team of over 23,000 employees who are working tirelessly to connect industries, communities, and economies. My top priorities will be to ensure the safety of the railroad and our employees, deliver reliable service to our customers, and increase value for our shareholders. I look forward to working in partnership with the team and the Board as we continue to build on CSX’s strong momentum, advancing key initiatives aimed at driving long-term growth.”

Hinrichs said that it was a privilege to serve as CSX CEO, noting he was proud of the progress the company had made on various fronts, including improving performance, strengthening customer relationships, and building a culture of safety and collaboration.

“I am grateful to our team for their hard work and commitment—they are among the best and brightest in the business,” he said. “I leave with pride for all that we have accomplished together and have full confidence that under Steve and the Board’s leadership, the Company will continue to grow stronger, delivering lasting value to all our stakeholders.”

In an open letter to CSX employees and key stakeholders in a LinkedIn post, Hinrichs observed that he was the first outsider to come in as a CEO in the rail industry, as well as the first one who had actually been a major rail customer, helping him to know the industry from an outsider’s perspective.

Hinrichs cited various inroads made by CSX under his watch, including: establishing ONE CSX, an initiative focused on creating a unified culture emphasizing inclusion, respect, valuing everyone’s contributions, pride, equality, belonging, and collaboration among employees, labor unions, and the broader workforce; taking a lead in labor relations by leading the industry in paid sick leave and setting the early pattern for the latest round of national negotiations and making history before the contract expired in 2024; improving customer service levels, with the past three quarters marking the best customer net promoter scores in company history, amid challenging weather conditions and also the simultaneous rebuilds of the Howard Street Tunnel and the Blue Ridge (Clinchfield) Subdivision.

“We were the only Class I railroad last year to grow volumes compared to 2019 (pre-COVID),” he wrote. “There is also a strong connection between service and volume growth. Please don’t lose sight of that. Our operating metrics have been industry-leading for almost all of those three years, save for a difficult first four months of the year. We can all be proud of how the Operations team has responded and the results we have delivered since the beginning of May. With the major projects now opening back up, there is tremendous opportunity to continue leading and improving.

Everything starts with Safety, and I am proud of the progress we are showing this year in Injury Rates and Train Accident Rates, especially in the last few months. We lost ONE CSX family members during the first 17 months I was there and that is by far my biggest regret. Thankfully the last 19 months have been much better. Safety First Always. As we said at investor conferences over the last few weeks, 2026 sets up very well for CSX with the railroad running well, the major projects completed, and the industry partnerships working together to drive more volume to CSX.”

One of those industry partnerships was announced in late August with Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF, for various intermodal service offerings focused on coast-to-coast movements, including:

• the introduction of new, coast-to-coast, direct domestic intermodal services between Southern California and Charlotte, North Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida;
• a new service to be launched between Phoenix, Arizona, and Atlanta, Georgia, focusing on over-the-road (OTR) freight conversion to rail through a seamless product between the two railroads (with two new 10,000-foot sidings between Phoenix and Flagstaff being used to enable more efficient meet/pass operations on the route connecting to BNSF’s Southern Transcon); and
• the introduction of new direct international intermodal services between the Port of New York and New Jersey, and Norfolk, Virginia, and Kansas City

CSX and BNSF officials said that these new intermodal services will provide immediate value for customers in various ways, including increasing flexibility and optionality, while delivering integrated service for freight moving across the U.S. The companies added that additional details about these new services will be announced going forward.

This partnership was announced at a time when there was speculation that CSX and BNSF would enter into a merger agreement, following the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger, which was announced in late July but not yet a done deal. A CNBC report stated that Warren Buffet, Chair of Berkshire Hathaway, BNSF’s owner, said that Berkshire told CSX it does not plan to merge with CSX. The report added that an August 3 meeting between Buffet, Greg Abel, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and Hinrichs, “discussed cooperation to make freight rail more efficient.”

Baird Equity Research analyst Daniel Moore wrote in a research note that Hinrichs’ departure from CSX was not viewed as a surprise.

The reasons for that, he observed, were that during his three years at the company, Hinrichs oversaw a period marked by meaningful deterioration in the company's operating ratio and persistent service issues. What’s more, he noted that, more recently, his firm, “believed the Union Pacific/Norfolk Southern M&A agreement and Hinrichs' private discussion with Berkshire brought further scrutiny, underscoring concerns that he had not demonstrated the full spectrum of leadership required for someone in that role.”

And TD Cowen analyst Jason Seidl said that, the incoming CEO may position the rail more strategically, though don't expect this to suggest any near-term deal activity.

“We view this change in leadership, which caught some by surprise, as a way for CSX to clean the slate and focus on core operations and culture,” wrote Seidl. “We do not believe the transition has anything to do with the short-term operations.”

In August, activist investor Ancora Holdings LLC penned a letter to the Board of Directors at CSX, in which it stated that Joe Hinrichs has put the company in the position of having to play “catch up,” following the recently-announced merger between Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern (NS).

To that end, Ancora highlighted what it viewed as “missteps” for CSX under Hinrichs’ leadership, including: anemic shareholder returns in the single-digits, compared to billions of dollars in value generated by his predecessors from 2025 through early 2022; disastrous operational performance, with an increase in operating ratio, from 58% when Hinrichs joined CSX in 2022, to around 67% year-to-date in 2025; poor personnel selection, calling CSX COO Mike Cory “a mediocre operator, saying the CSX Chief Commercial Officer [Kevin Boone] has failed to achieve any material improvements in carload growth; and blown opportunities, with Ancora saying it suspects Hinrichs was reluctant to engage in substantive discussions related to opportunities pertaining to a transcontinental railroad, as he would have no role at a combined railroad.

What’s more, Ancora outlined next steps it would like to see CSX take, including retaining a bank to explore transaction opportunities with BNSF Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, in order to explore all opportunities for maximizing shareholder value.

In its second quarter earnings release, CSX reported that net income came in at $829 million, down 14% annually, and operating income came in at $1.28 billion down 12% annually. The company’s third quarter earnings release is scheduled for October 16.