Rail Industry Insights & Freight Data Analysis

Bar chart of eastbound trains per day on BNSF's Southern Transcon, October 17 to 28, 2026, entering at Getz, Arizona and leaving at Belen, New Mexico. About 29 trains a day pass each sensor until the October 24 washout; Belen then reads one train on October 25 and one on October 26, and 27 on October 27.

BNSF, Freight Rail, Intermodal, Logistics, RailState

After Historic Flooding BNSF Had Trains Moving in Two Days

October 28, 2026 Dan Devoe

RailState sensors measured BNSF’s Transcon washout near Laguna, NM: trains moving again in 61 hours, then clearing at 1.2 times the normal pace.

Stacked bar chart of weekly coal and petroleum coke trains arriving at Trigon Pacific Terminals, Port of Prince Rupert, by shipper (Conuma, Suncor, CST, Westmoreland), May to October 2026. Arrivals of about 9 to 16 a week fall to 6 or 7 after the work stoppage began October 2.

Canadian National, Freight Rail, Logistics, RailState

A Labour Dispute at Prince Rupert Is Rerouting Western Canada’s Coal

October 28, 2026 Dan Devoe

RailState sensor data shows coal trains into Trigon at Prince Rupert fell 48% in the work stoppage, as Conuma and Westmoreland sent trains to Westshore.

Canadian National, CPKC, Freight Rail, Logistics, RailState

Potash Is in the Headlines. Here Is Where It Actually Goes.

September 25, 2026 Dan Devoe

Canada supplies most of North America’s potash and nearly all of it moves by rail. RailState’s trackside cameras show where it goes, weeks ahead of official data.

BNSF, Canadian National, Freight Rail, Intermodal, RailState, Union Pacific

Maersk Moves to UP

June 26, 2026 Dan Devoe

Maersk just moved most of its eastbound SoCal freight from BNSF to Union Pacific’s Sunset Route — a sudden flip no public report has caught.

BNSF, Canadian National, CPKC, Freight Rail, Intermodal, RailState

We followed hundreds of thousands of containers across two 2,000-mile rail corridors — Vancouver→Toronto and LA→Chicago. The performance gap between railroads shows up in days, not hours, and appears in no published schedule. See what the data reveals.

Bar chart of eastbound intermodal container transit times through Chicago, grouped in five-hour brackets from under 5 hours to over 50 hours. BNSF-to-CSX traffic is concentrated in the 5–10 hour bracket at 52%, while BNSF-to-NS traffic is spread across longer brackets with 14% in the 5–10 hour range.

BNSF, CSX, Freight Rail, Intermodal, Logistics, Norfolk Southern, RailState, Technology

How Bad is the Rail Bottleneck in Chicago?

May 4, 2026 Dan Devoe

More than half of BNSF-to-CSX containers cross Chicago in less than 10 hours, RailState data shows.

Bar chart showing daily container volume at RailState's Mecca, California sensor on Union Pacific's Sunset Route over the past 30 days. Volume held steady between 5,000 and 11,000 containers per day through mid-March, then dropped sharply to near zero on March 19, 2026, following a freight train derailment, with a partial recovery on March 20. A green 7-day moving average line highlights the sudden decline

Freight Rail, Intermodal, Logistics, RailState, Technology, Union Pacific

Two Derailments in 36 Hours Choke Major U.S. Freight Corridors

March 20, 2026 Dan Devoe

RailState sensors measured the freight impact of two UP derailments, including a 73% container volume drop on the Sunset Route.

Freight train traveling through a snowy area

AI, BNSF, Freight Rail, Logistics, RailState, Technology, Union Pacific

Winter Storm Fern: RailState Data Shows Network Impact Across Three States

January 27, 2026 Dan Devoe

Winter Storm Fern cut freight rail volumes up to 27%. RailState’s real-time data shows how the impact varied across Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.

Grain Unit Train in front of an elevator

AI, BNSF, Freight Rail, Logistics, RailState, Technology, Union Pacific

RailState Fills Critical Agriculture Data Gap – New Report on Grain Train Utilization

November 14, 2025 Dan Devoe

The government shutdown paused USDA grain statistics. RailState didn’t. October grain train performance shows UP trainsets up, BNSF turn times improved. Lane-by-lane insights the market needs.

AI, Freight Rail, Logistics, RailState, Technology

Telegraph™ and RailState to Launch New Initiative Utilizing Near Real-Time Camera Network to Enrich the Rail Shipper Experience

June 24, 2025 Dan Devoe

CHICAGO and Quincy, Mass. [June 24, 2025] — Telegraph, a pioneering rail technology solutions provider, and RailState, a forerunner in rail network visibility solutions, announced a new initiative aimed at revolutionizing what shippers are able to see and do with their rail data throughout a shipment’s lifecycle.