The BNSF Railway Company is the largest freight railroad network in North America. One of eight North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 44,000 employees, 32,500 miles (52,300 km) of track in 28 states, and more than 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide rail connections between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles in 2010, more than any other North American railroad. The BNSF and Union Pacific have a duopoly on all transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western U.S. and share trackage rights over thousands of miles of track.
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock.
The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, also known as the Frisco, was a railroad that operated in the Midwest and South Central U.S. from 1876 to April 17, 1980. At the end of 1970 it operated 4,547 miles (7,318 km) of road on 6,574 miles (10,580 km) of track, not including subsidiaries Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway or the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad; that year it reported 12,795 million ton-miles of revenue freight and no passengers. It was purchased and absorbed into the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1980. Despite its name, it never came close to San Francisco.
The Wichita, Tillman and Jackson Railway is a shortline railroad subsidiary of the Rio Grande Pacific Corporation that operates two disconnected lines in Oklahoma and Texas, mostly owned by the state of Oklahoma. The line for which it is named extends from Wichita Falls, Texas to Altus, Oklahoma, through Wichita, Tillman, and Jackson Counties. It was completed by the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway and Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway of Texas in 1910, and became part of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway (MKT) system in 1911. The line was cut back from Forgan, in the Oklahoma Panhandle, to Altus in 1973, and operations were transferred to the WTJR in January 1991. The other line, from Waurika to Walters, is a former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad branch, leased to the Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad, an MKT subsidiary, after the Rock Island's abandonment in 1980, and transferred to the WTJR in 1991.
The Fort Worth and Denver Railway, nicknamed "the Denver Road," was a Class I American railroad company that operated in the northern part of Texas from 1881 to 1982, and had a profound influence on the early settlement and economic development of the region.
The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis is a switching and terminal railroad that handles traffic in the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area. It is co-owned by several Class I railroads that reach the city.
Joliet Union Station is a former commuter and long-distance railroad station in Joliet, Illinois serving both Amtrak long-distance and Metra commuter trains. It was replaced by the new Joliet Transportation Center in 2018, a train station that was constructed adjacent to the Union Station's location. Train service to Joliet Union Station permanently ceased in September 2014. The station is 37.0 miles (59.5 km) from Chicago Union Station on the Heritage Corridor, and 40.1 miles (64.5 km) from Chicago LaSalle St. Station on the Rock Island District.
Oklahoma City Union Depot is a building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that served as a "union station" from 1931 until 1967. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It now houses the main office of the Central Oklahoma Transportation & Parking Authority.
The Kansas City Terminal Railway is a Class III terminal railroad that serves as a joint operation of the trunk railroads that serve the Kansas City metropolitan area, the United States' second largest rail hub. It is operated by the Kaw River Railroad.
The Northern Plains Railroad is a short line railroad that operates over 344 miles of track in the northern U.S. state of Minnesota and the northern U.S. state of North Dakota.
Railroads in Omaha, Nebraska have been integral to the growth and development of the city, the state of Nebraska, the Western United States and the entire United States. The convergence of many railroad forces upon the city was by happenstance and synergy, as none of the Omaha leaders had a comprehensive strategy for bringing railroads to the city.
The V&S Railway is a shortline railroad that operates two disconnected lines in the U.S. state of Kansas. It is affiliated with A&K Railroad Materials. The company acquired its first line, a former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway line between Medicine Lodge and a BNSF Railway junction at Attica, from the Central Kansas Railway in 2000. In 2006 it expanded its operations by acquiring from the Hutchinson and Northern Railway a short segment of former interurban in eastern Hutchinson, where it interchanges with the BNSF Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, and Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad. Other railroads under common control with the V&S are the out-of-service Kern Valley Railroad in Colorado, the Gloster Southern Railroad in Louisiana and Mississippi, the Grenada Railway and Natchez Railway in Mississippi, a portion of the former Rock Island from St. Louis to Union, Missouri operated by the Missouri Central and the Southern Manitoba Railway in Manitoba.
The following is a brief history of the North American rail system, mainly through major changes to Class I railroads, the largest class by operating revenue.
