Lone Star State Leads Nation in Rail Innovation

From energy production and manufacturing, to distribution centers and the Gulf Coast ports, freight rail is an important driver of Texas’s economic future. The Lone Star State is a national leader in freight rail innovation, with one of the nation’s biggest railroads, BNSF Railway, headquartered in Fort Worth, where Wabtec also builds new high-tech, fuel-efficient locomotives.

Texas's 54 freight railroads operate over 10,370 miles of track and employ 14,664 in the Lone Star State.* It would have taken approximately 6.2 million additional truckloads to move the 110.9 million tons of freight that moved by rail in Texas in 2021. Moving freight by rail prevented 25.2 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking 4.95 million cars off the road or planting 382.4 million trees. Intermodal and chemicals make up the majority of freight rail shipments beginning in Texas. Intermodal and nonmetallic minerals are the largest rail imports to the state.

*2021 data

Rail at Work

Texas

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Featured Rail Advocates

Texas
Andy Eads
Andy Eads
Denton County Commissioner
Bob Mitchell
Bob Mitchell
President, Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership

Featured Rail Supply Companies

Texas

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Parsec, Inc.
RMS Intermodal
API Global Solutions
The Greenbrier Companies
Direct Chassis Link
AECOM
Trinity Rail
SEMA Construction
NRCMA
Somerville Companies
Jay-Reese Contractors, Inc.
Wabtec Corporation
TTX Company
RJ Corman Railroad Group
RCL Services Group
RailWorks Corporation
Progress Rail Services
Polivka International
New York Air Brake
L.B. Foster Company
Koppers Inc.
Hulcher Services Inc.
American Concrete Products Co.

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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. 

State Director

Texas
Brett Sebastian

Brett Sebastian

State Director

Brett Sebastian joined GoRail in August 2019 and oversees its operations in the South-Central United States and Arizona.