Pelican State Economy Soars on Freight Rail
Louisiana’s railroads play an essential role in connecting local companies and communities to markets throughout North America. Recent soaring growth in Louisiana’s petrochemical industry would not be possible without these key freight rail connections.
Louisiana's 20 freight railroads operate over 2,971 miles of track and employ 3,156 in the Pelican State.* It would have taken approximately 7.4 million additional truckloads to move the 132.5 million tons of freight that moved by rail in Louisiana in 2019. Moving freight by rail prevented 8.87 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking 1.74 million cars off the road or planting 134.3 million trees. Chemicals make up the majority of freight rail shipments beginning in Louisiana. Crude oil and chemicals are the largest rail imports to the state.
*2019 data
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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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