Sooner State Growth Riding on Rail
Freight rail brings finished goods and raw materials to Oklahoma’s businesses and transports Oklahoma’s products to the rest of the nation and the world. According to the State Department of Transportation, rail traffic will experience significant growth over the next few decades with the number of trains on some corridors expected to double over the next 20 years.
Oklahoma’s 19 freight railroads operate over 3,225 miles of track and employ 1,788 in the Sooner State.* It would have taken approximately 14.7 million additional trucks to handle the 265.2 million tons of freight that started, ended, or moved through Oklahoma in 2023. Moving freight by rail prevented 3.3 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking 647,000 cars off the road or planting 50 million trees. Nonmetallic minerals are the largest freight rail shipments beginning and ending in Oklahoma.
*2023 data
