Continuing my mini series on Bulk Transportation on Rail. In case you missed Part 1, you can access it here.
Before we start solving the problem of Bulk Rail Transportation in TM, let us try to understand how the rail networks are established. North America’s freight rail system is privately owned and a very extensive freight transportation networks in the world. It moves roughly 40% of long-distance freight (by ton-miles) across nearly 140,000 route miles in the U.S. alone, handling everything from bulk commodities like coal, grain, and chemicals to intermodal containers. Unlike highways, almost all U.S. freight rail infrastructure is privately owned and maintained by the railroad companies themselves.
The North American Railroads are primarily divided into 2 classes:
The Heavyweights
The backbone of the network consists of Class I railroads, defined by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) by annual revenue (currently over ~$1 billion). As of recent data, there are typically seven Class I freight railroads operating in North America:
- U.S.-based: BNSF Railway, Union Pacific (UP), CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern (NS)
- Canadian-based with major U.S. operations: Canadian National (CN), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC)
These carriers dominate long-haul movements. They own the majority of the high-density mainline track (roughly 70% of U.S. route miles) and generate the vast majority of industry revenue. Class I railroads focus on high-volume, long-distance hauls with unit trains (e.g., 100+ cars of the same commodity) and intermodal services.
The First/Last Mile Specialists
Shortline railroads (mostly Class III) and regional railroads (Class II) are the smaller players — there are roughly 600 of them operating about 47,500 route miles.
They typically operate on lower-density branch lines, often spun off from Class I railroads in past decades when the big carriers sought to shed less profitable routes. Shortlines provide critical first-mile pickup from shippers (e.g., factories, grain elevators, mines) and last-mile delivery to the final destination.
The Complexity Intensifies
1. Let's start by understanding how this network looks up close.
2. We will start by looking at the highlighted section of the BNSF network. When we zoom in:
Orange lines are BNSF owned tracks, which is a Class 1 Railroad
Green lines are MNN (Minnesota Northern Railroad) or DN (Dakota Northern Railroad) owned tracks
3. Cities like Drayton, Grafton etc. are present directly on BNSF tracks. This means, that any railcars going In/Out of Drayton can be directly Delivered or Picked up by BNSF
4. Cities like Thief River Falls, Roseau, Redco, Beltrami etc. lie on the MNN tracks whereas cities like Walhalla, Crystal etc. lie on the DN tracks
5. MNN junctions with BNSF at Erskine, which basically means that any cars from Thief River Falls, will be picked up by MNN and carried till Erskine, where MNN will handover the cars to BNSF for further transportation. This is also valid for cars moving into Thief River Falls i.e. BNSF will bring the cars to Erskine and hand them over to MNN, which will then bring the cars to Thief River Falls.
6. Now let's zoom on the highlighted section again
7. When we zoom in:
Blue lines are CSXT and Grey lines are NS owned tracks, which is a Class 1 Railroad
Purple lines are MMID (Maryland Midland Railway) or WW (Winchester and Western Railroad) or SWP (Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad) owned tracks
8. Cities like Winchester, Chambersburg etc. are present directly on CSXT tracks. This means, that any railcars going In/Out of Winchester can be directly Delivered or Picked up by CSXT
The Practical Problem:
Now consider 2 scenarios:
1. Railcars are to be moved between Drayton, ND and Winchester, VA (or the other way around)
2. Railcars are to be moved between Thief River Falls, MN and Winchester, VA (or the other way around)
Add to this, the restrictions of railroads and track ownership:
- Anything coming in and out of Drayton, ND would be served by BNSF
- Anything coming in and out of Winchester, VA would be served by CSXT
- Anything coming in and out of Thief River Falls, MN would be served by MNN till Erskine, MN. Beyond that, it would be hauled by BNSF as it’s mainline carrier
- BNSF and CSXT interchange in Chicago, IL
To maintain point to point connectivity between these locations and for TM to propose valid Routes and Rates, the Default Route master data that needs to be created would look like:
With the dynamic nature of trading, new Customers (Milling Companies) & Suppliers (Farmers, Grain Elevators or other Traders) would be constantly identified. These partners can be anywhere on the map and depending on the city they are located in, can be served by any railroad network.
For TM to provide valid and practical routes and rates, which are critical for the Trader to make the Buy/Sell decision, all such combinations should be maintained in the Default Route master data. This is already a uphill task and will result in millions of Default Routes. This is neither practical nor sustainable.
In Part 3, I will focus on Default Route as an object and how it is used in TM Freight Orders for Rail Routing and Rating. Stay Tuned!
