Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (GWI) (NYSE: GWR) announced today that its railroads have again earned the rail industry's top safety honors for their performance in 2010.

GWI's Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad (BPRR) was presented today with the E.H. Harriman Gold Award for the best safety record among railroads working less than four million man-hours in 2010. This is the second-consecutive E.H. Harriman Gold Award for the BPRR, a Class II freight railroad with 368 miles of track in western New York and Pennsylvania, and the third-consecutive year that a GWI railroad has won the award.

Earlier this month, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) presented BPRR with three President's Awards, for best employee safety record in the 250,000+ man-hours category, most injury-free man-hours and most improved safety performance - the latter in recognition of BPRR's 200 employees working injury-free for all of 2008, 2009 and 2010 after sustaining six reportable injuries in 2007.

GWI's Bay Line Railroad also received an ASLRRA President's Award for best employee safety record in the 50,000-150,000 man-hours category. ASLRRA Jake Awards With Distinction were presented to the BPRR, Bay Line and 41 of GWI's other U.S. railroads in recognition of their perfect employee safety records. Two GWI railroads received Jake Awards for employee safety records that were better than the industry average.

For 2010, 53 of 62 GWI railroads worldwide achieved zero reportable injuries, and GWI's combined injury-frequency rate was 0.5 per 200,000 employee hours, compared with a short line railroad peer-group average of 3.9 per 200,000 employee hours. From 2006 to 2010, GWI's derailments, grade crossing incidents and personal injuries have declined 55%, 49% and 74%, respectively.

Also this month, GWI's Quebec-Gatineau Railway Engineer Miguel Lewerenz received Operation Lifesaver Canada's 2011 Roger Cyr Award, which recognizes an individual's efforts to raise public awareness and promote rail-crossing safety. Operation Lifesaver is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending tragic collisions, fatalities and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings. A certified Operation Lifesaver presenter since 2009, Lewerenz received the Cyr Award in recognition of his extensive community outreach activities, presentations and meetings with public officials in the area of Trois-Rivières, Québec.

In 2009 and 2010, GWI employees made 745 Operation Lifesaver presentations to more than 38,000 school children, school bus drivers and other individuals regarding the importance of rail-crossing safety.

"Our number one priority is for every Genesee & Wyoming employee to return home safely each day, and these awards are wonderful recognition of our employees' personal commitments to working safely," said GWI President and CEO Jack Hellmann. "We remain focused on our ultimate goal of becoming an injury-free company."

GWI owns and operates short line and regional freight railroads in the United States, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands. We provide rail service at 17 ports in North America and Europe and perform contract coal loading and railcar switching for industrial customers. In addition, we operate the Tarcoola to Darwin rail line which links the Port of Darwin with the Australian interstate rail network in South Australia. Operations currently include 63 railroads organized in nine regions, with approximately 7,400 miles of owned and leased track and approximately 1,400 additional miles under track access arrangements.

Genesee & Wyoming Inc.
Michael Williams, 203-629-3722
Corporate Communications