Show-Me State at the Crossroads of America’s Rail Network
With large rail yards in Kansas City and St. Louis, connections to significant east-west and north-south rail lines, the headquarters of one of the nation’s largest railroads, Kansas City Southern, and significant passenger rail routes, Missouri really is at the crossroads of America’s rail network. For Missouri farms and factories, freight rail is the gateway to the world.
Missouri’s 15 freight railroads operate over 3,793 miles of track and employ 5,652 in the Show-Me State.* It would have taken approximately 19 million additional trucks to handle the 334.3 million tons of freight that started, ended, or moved through Missouri in 2023. Moving freight by rail prevented 4.66 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking 914,000 cars off the road or planting 70.6 million trees. Intermodal and food glass and stone make up the majority of freight rail shipments beginning in Missouri. Coal is the largest rail import to the state.
*2023 data
