Sunflower State the Heartland of American Freight Rail
Kansas is much more than just the geographic center of the national rail network. With a distinguished rail history focused on moving wheat to customers worldwide, as well as massive recent rail investments into busy intermodal facilities, Kansas is also the economic heart of freight rail.
Kansas’s 16 freight railroads operate over 4,748 miles of track and employ 4,296 in the Sunflower State.* It would have taken approximately 16.0 million additional trucks to handle the 288.3 million tons of freight that started, ended, or moved through Kansas in 2021. Moving freight by rail prevented 4.58 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking 898,000 cars off the road or planting 63.4 million trees. Intermodal shipments and farm products make up the majority of freight rail shipments beginning in Kansas. Intermodal shipments are the largest rail imports to the state.
*2021 data
