Rail

The railroad is a long hauler and slow mover of raw materials [coal,lumber and chemicals] and of low-valued  manufactured products [food, paper and wood products] and prefers to move shipment sizes of at least a full carload. This relatively slow speed and short car distance travelled in a day reflect the fact that the majority of freight car time is spent on loading and unloading operations, moving from one place to another within terminals, classifying and assembling cars into trains or standing idle during seasonal slump in car demand.

Rail service exist in two legal forms, common carrier or privately owned. A common carrier sells its transportation service to all shippers and it is guided by the economic and safety regulations of the appropriate government agencies. In contrast, private carriers are shipper owned with the usual intent of serving only the owner. Because of the limited scope of the private carrier's operations, no economic regulations are needed. Nearly all rail movement is of the common carrier type.

Common carrier line-haul rail service is primarily carload [CL]. A carload quantity refers to a predetermined shipment size, usually approaching or exceeding the average capacity of a railcar to which a particular rate is applied to. A multiple-carload quantity rate per hundredweight [cwt] may be offered and is less than the less than carload [LCL] rate, which reflects the reduced handling time required for high volume shipments.

Nearly all rail freight today moves in carload quantities, a reflection of the trend towards volume movement. Larger freight cars are being used with an average freight car capacity of 83 tons and single-commodity trains [called unit trains] of 100 or more cars per train are being used with rate reductions of 25 to 40 percent over single carloads.

Railroads offer a diversity of special services to the shipper, ranging from the movement of bulk commodities such as coal and grain to special cars for refrigerated products and new automobiles which require special equipment. Other offerings include expedited service to guarantee arrival within a certain number of hours; various stop-off privileges, which permit partial loading and unloading between origin and destination points; pick up and delivery; and diversion and reconsignment, which allow circuitous routing and changes in the final destination of a shipment while en route.