Stock Plans and Share-Based Compensation - Assumptions and Inputs Used to Estimate Fair Value of Stock Options (Details) - Stock Options - $ / shares	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 30, 2016
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Weighted-average grant date fair value (in dollars per share)	$ 14.65	$ 12.84	$ 4.68
Annual dividend yield	1.50%	1.50%	3.00%
Risk-free interest rate	2.60%	2.20%	1.40%
Annualized volatility	27.00%	27.10%	27.30%
Expected life (in years)	6 years 6 months	6 years 3 months	6 years 6 months
Weighted-average grant-date market price of CSX stock (strike price) (in dollars per share)	$ 54.19	$ 49.63	$ 24.13

Agreed-upon price for the exchange of the underlying asset relating to the share-based payment award.

No definition available.

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- Definition

The estimated dividend rate (a percentage of the share price) to be paid (expected dividends) to holders of the underlying shares over the option's term.

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- Definition

The estimated measure of the percentage by which a share price is expected to fluctuate during a period. Volatility also may be defined as a probability-weighted measure of the dispersion of returns about the mean. The volatility of a share price is the standard deviation of the continuously compounded rates of return on the share over a specified period. That is the same as the standard deviation of the differences in the natural logarithms of the stock prices plus dividends, if any, over the period.

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- Definition

The risk-free interest rate assumption that is used in valuing an option on its own shares.

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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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No definition available.

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- Definition

The weighted average grant-date fair value of options granted during the reporting period as calculated by applying the disclosed option pricing methodology.

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- Definition

Expected term of share-based compensation awards, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (f)(2)(i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109197908&loc=d3e5070-113901

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SAB Topic 14.D.2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=115993241&loc=d3e301413-122809

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