intermodal rail

As fuel costs for air cargo and trucking increase, railroad shipping has seen a renaissance. Notably, Berkshire Hathaway acquired a major U.S. railroad recently (Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp).

A single intermodal train hauls the load of 280 trucks, and a freight train can move a ton of freight 436 miles on a single gallon of fuel. That’s why rail is the most environmentally friendly form of ground transportation in North America.

What does that mean to you, the customer? Savings. You can cut costs with rail shipments and spare the environment at the same time – as long as you can live with longer transit times. This is a smart alternative to using a full truck over the road (LTL rail is not an option, however, while LTL works fine on the roads)

The U.S. operates the safest, cleanest, most efficient rail system in the world. Many LTL shipments travel by both truck and rail, in fact. Since LTL carriers typically send a large volume of freight every day, they’re able to deal more efficiently with rail hand-offs. They also closely monitor railroad performance to ensure delivery of freight within the specified delivery window.