Freight Rail Drives Centennial State Economy
Railroads and Colorado grew up together – literally – as towns, cities and businesses sprouted and thrived along the first railroads. Today, the rail system that was so instrumental in Colorado’s early development has evolved as a prime economic driver in the movement of freight to, from and through the state.
Colorado's 14 freight railroads operate over 2,636 miles of track and employ 2,259 in the Centennial State.* It would have taken approximately 7.7 million additional truckloads to move the 138.9 million tons of freight that moved by rail in Colorado in 2019. Coal and glass and stone comprises the majority of freight rail shipments beginning in Colorado and intermodal is the largest import to the state.
*2019 data
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Colorado
43 percent
decrease
in rail rates, 1981-2014.
That means the average rail customer today can ship nearly twice as much freight for about the same price it paid more than 30 years ago.
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