How rail mergers could affect ag

In the United States, grain movement primarily occurs by one of three methods: truck, train or boat.

Boats obviously have a geographic limitation and are used mostly to move grain down rivers to either New Orleans or the Pacific Northwest, where it is then shipped internationally.

Then there are trucks, which are the most common form of transportation and are used mostly to move grain locally. Trucks, however, become quite expensive when trying to move grain longer distances, which brings us to trains.

Nearly 25% of all grain in America moves by rail at some point, with six major Class 1 rail lines in the country. These six, which operate roughly 95,000 miles of track, include BNSF Railway, Canadian National Railway (CN), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) and Union Pacific...