Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
11
FREIGHT TRAINS?
There are more than 550 freight railroads in the United States,
although the vast majority serves very specific and usually very
small geographical areas. In fact, these local railroads only oper-
ate an average of just over 50 miles of track. At the other end of
the spectrum, we have what are called the Class I railroads. There
are only seven of them, but their trains run over nearly 100,000
miles of track around the country and employ more than 165,000
people. Class I railroads rang up just over $55 billion in revenues
for the freight they carried in 2007. Here's a list of those compa-
nies (you'll see their identifying logos on locomotives and freight
cars everywhere as you ride around the country):
• Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF)
• CSX
• Grand Trunk (owned by Canadian National)
• Kansas City Southern
• Norfolk Southern
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