Blue Grass Auto Industry Riding Rail to Success
Kentucky produced more than 1.3 million motor vehicles in 2016, with the Bluegrass State ranking first in the nation on a per capita basis in light vehicle production. Freight railroads play a key role in this success, carrying steel and other inputs to manufacturers and finished autos and auto parts out of Kentucky for distribution.
Kentucky's 13 freight railroads operate over 2,583 miles of track and employ 2,916 in the Bluegrass State.* It would have taken approximately 12.9 million additional truckloads to move the 232.0 million tons of freight that moved by rail in Kentucky in 2019. Moving freight by rail prevented 3.58 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking 702,000 cars off the road or planting 54.2 million trees. Coal makes up the majority of freight rail shipments beginning and ending in the commonwealth.
*2019 data
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Kentucky
44 percent
decrease
in rail rates on average from 1981 to today.
That means the average rail customer today can ship significantly more freight for about the same price they paid 40 years ago.
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