Significant Accounting Policies (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES: [Abstract]

Property and Equipment Useful Life [Table Text Block]

Depreciation is provided on the straight-line method over the useful lives of the property and equipment. The following table sets forth the estimated useful lives of the Company’s major classes of property and equipment:

	Estimated Useful Life
Property	Minimum	Maximum
Buildings and leasehold improvements (subject to term of lease)	3	30
Bridges/tunnels/culverts	20	50
Track property	5	50
Equipment:
Computer equipment	2	7
Locomotives and rail cars	5	30
Vehicles and mobile equipment	5	10
Signals and crossing equipment	10	30
Track equipment	5	10
Other equipment	3	20

Schedule of Share-based Compensation, Stock Options, Activity [Table Text Block]

Earnings per Share

Common shares issuable under unexercised stock options calculated under the treasury stock method and weighted average Class B common shares outstanding are the only reconciling items between the Company’s basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding. The total number of options used to calculate weighted average share equivalents for diluted earnings per share as of December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, was as follows (in thousands):

	2011	2010	2009
Options used to calculate weighted average share equivalents	1,460	1,801	2,296

Schedule of Earnings Per Share, Basic and Diluted [Table Text Block]

The following table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009 (in thousands, except per share amounts):

	2011			2010		2009
Numerators:
Amounts attributable to Genesee & Wyoming Inc. common stockholders:
Income from continuing operations, net of tax	$	119,493		$	78,669	$	59,929
(Loss)/income from discontinued operations, net of tax	(9		)	2,591		1,398
Net income	$	119,484		$	81,260	$	61,327
Denominators:
Weighted average Class A common shares outstanding—Basic	39,912			38,886		36,146
Weighted average Class B common shares outstanding	2,257			2,528		2,561
Dilutive effect of employee stock grants	603			475		267
Weighted average shares—Diluted	42,772			41,889		38,974
Earnings per common share attributable to Genesee & Wyoming Inc. common stockholders:
Basic:
Earnings per common share from continuing operations	$	2.99		$	2.02	$	1.66
Earnings per common share from discontinued operations	—			0.07		0.04
Earnings per common share	$	2.99		$	2.09	$	1.70
Diluted:
Earnings per common share from continuing operations	$	2.79		$	1.88	$	1.54
Earnings per common share from discontinued operations	—			0.06		0.04
Earnings per common share	$	2.79		$	1.94	$	1.57

Schedule of Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Table Text Block]

The following total number of Class A common stock issuable under the assumed exercises of stock options computed based on the treasury stock method were excluded from the calculation of diluted earnings per common share, as the effect of including these shares would have been anti-dilutive (in thousands):

	2011	2010	2009
Anti-dilutive shares	126	312	1,597