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, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Weighted-average grant date fair value (in dollars per share)	$ 18.94	$ 17.87	$ 14.65
Annual dividend yield	1.20%	1.30%	1.50%
Risk-free interest rate	1.40%	2.40%	2.60%
Annualized volatility	26.10%	25.70%	27.00%
Expected life (in years)	6 years	6 years 1 month 6 days	6 years 6 months
Weighted-average grant-date market price of CSX stock (strike price) (in dollars per share)	$ 79.58	$ 70.01	$ 54.19

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 award under share-based payment arrangement, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents 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=120381028&loc=d3e5070-113901

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-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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