Nearly everything in our daily lives is moved by rail—whether
it’s a finished product, raw good or both. Railroads annually
haul an average of 117 million carloads of agricultural and soy products, including
wheat, corn and soybeans; 1.5 million carloads of countless food products, and more
than 2 million carloads of chemicals. Seventy percent of America’s coal—which accounts
for nearly 50 percent of total U.S. electricity generation—is moved across U.S. rail lines
every year, as well as more than 1.3 million carloads of lumber and paper products.
Rail also can accommodate a variety of liquids, in addition to automobiles and auto parts.