What Can You Ship by Rail?

A guide to shipping freight like construction materials, food, beverages, new vehicles and other goods by train

Wondering which products you can ship by train? The short answer is that trains can haul just about anything. From materials mined from the earth to the products that make a house a home and everything in between, you can ship it by rail.

But let’s get into a little more detail.

Don't miss the "What Can You Ship by Rail?" video at the end!

Pipe

Building and Construction Materials

Ask a rail fan and they’ll say trains build America. Even though they may be a little biased, it’s sort of true. Think about the materials used to build your own home – odds are, they probably moved by rail before making their way to the job site. Those building materials include things like:

Lumber
Pipe
Metals
Asphalt
Paper
Rebar
Metal Coil
Bricks
Shingles and Other Roofing Products

Household Goods

If you take a closer look at the items inside your house, most everything you see can ship by rail.

Boxes
Parcels
Shoes
Clothing
Toys
Furniture
Appliances
Electronics

NOTE: While railroads do ship goods that ultimately end up in peoples' homes, they typically don't ship personal property (e.g., an individual person's household goods). So where they do ship household goods, they don't ship individual households.

Food

What’s in your fridge? How about your kitchen cabinets? Most of that — including the cold stuff! — can move by rail.

Packaged Food
Canned Goods
Frozen Food
Produce
Seafood
Cheese
Chocolate

Beverages

Beverages can move by rail, too — even those that come in glass bottles.

Beer
Wine
Tequila
Orange Juice

Liquids

Everything from the fuel that powers your vehicle and heats/cools your home to the corn syrup that sweetens your cereal can be moved by rail.

Ethanol
Biodiesel
Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF)
Corn Syrup
Petroleum
LPG

Large Items

Railroads can ship very large, heavy and oversized freight that can be difficult to move by truck.

Transformers
Wind Turbines
Machinery
Military Vehicles
Rocket Boosters

Small Items in Large Quantities

Teeny tiny items in really big quantities (better known as bulk items) are also ideal for rail.

Vehicles

A train can also move vehicles — and even the parts they're made of (but please note freight railroads typically don't ship personal vehicles).

Cars
Trucks
SUVs
Auto Parts

A Little Bit of Everything Else

What else? Well, just about anything can ship by rail.

Paper
Recycled Materials
Solar Panels
Waste
Feed Products
Christmas Trees
Paint
Carpet
Irrigation Equipment
Fibers
Grains
Minerals
And More (some of which are surprising!)

What's Left?

That leaves one question: What can’t you ship by rail? It’s a short list: Personal property, passengers, pets or other living things.

Learn More

Want to learn more about shipping by rail? Find out where you can ship and how you can ship door-to-door, even if you don’t have access to railroad tracks today. Or, answer a few quick questions to get a rate or connect with a shipping expert.

Related Articles: