Freight Rail Cuts Congestion, Drives Green Economy in Bay State
With freight shipments increasing and highway congestion on the rise, rail offers Massachusetts a way to tackle growing demand without tying commuters up in ever worsening traffic. Because freight rail moves cargo economically while using less fuel and emitting fewer pollutants than trucks, companies and communities throughout the Commonwealth benefit from rail in more ways than one.
Massachusetts's 12 freight railroads operate over 1,057 miles of track and employ 650 in The Bay State.* It would have taken approximately 874,000 additional truckloads to move the 15.7 million tons of freight that moved by rail in Massachusetts in 2017. Intermodal and waste and scrap make up the majority of freight rail shipments beginning in Massachusetts. Intermodal and transportation equipment are the largest rail imports to the commonwealth.
*2017 data
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Featured Rail Advocates
Massachusetts
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.
State Director
Massachusetts
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