AAR honors CSX's Atkinson for environmental stewardship

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has recognized Meaghan Atkinson of CSX with the 2020 Professional Environmental Excellence Award.

As manager of environmental programs at CSX, Atkinson leads the railroad's effort to implement some of the most ambitious greenhouse gas targets in the transportation sector, AAR officials said in a press release. Those targets call for reducing Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 37.3% per million gross ton-miles by 2029 from a 2014 base year.

Atkinson also led the cross-functional team that applied for matching funds from competitive public-private partnerships to upgrade local switcher locomotives in several non-attainment areas where CSX operates. CSX was awarded more than $10 million over several years to upgrade locomotives, and significantly reduce emissions, because of the team's efforts.

Atkinson also has been a regular contributor, planner and presenter for the Railroad Environmental Conference. She has represented CSX on several industry panels and working groups.

Presented to Atkinson during the 2020 virtual Railroad Environmental Seminar, the Professional Environmental Excellence Award is the industry's highest honor for environmental professionals, AAR officials said.

In addition to Atkinson, seven other railroad environmental professionals were nominated for the award. They were Josh Raglin of Norfolk Southern Railway, Laura Fotiou of Amtrak, Joel Strafelda of Union Pacific Railroad, Nic Winslow of BNSF Railway Co., Sean Strong of Watco Cos. LLC, Karla Graf of CN and Tara Hill of Kansas City Southern.