Association of American Railroads

Association of American Railroads

Association of American Railroads

Freight Rail in Iowa

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Key Facts

  • Freight Railroad Employees: 2,858
  • Freight Railroads: 16
  • Freight Rail Mileage: 3,780
  • Trucks off the Road: It would have taken 14 million trucks to handle the freight that moved by rail in Iowa in 2024.
Fact sheet

State Spotlight

In 2025, Iowa led the country in originated rail shipments of food products, which in Iowa’s case includes large quantities of soybean cake and meal, dried distillers grains (a by-product of ethanol production), corn syrup, soybean oil, and gluten feed. Iowa also leads the country by a wide margin in originated rail shipments of ethanol and is sixth in originated rail shipments of farm products. Most farm products originated in Iowa is corn. In fact, Iowa leads the nation in originated rail shipments of corn. Rail shipments that terminate in Iowa are dominated by coal for electricity generation but also include large amounts of fertilizer, scrap metal, cement, and other products.

Celebrating 200 Years of Rail
(1827-2027)

A young Abraham Lincoln once defended a railroad bridge across the Mississippi at Davenport. By 1869, rail stretched across Iowa to Council Bluffs, establishing the state as an important link between the Mississippi River and the West.

What Moves by Rail

2025 Data

Originated in Iowa

Commodity Million Tons Units
Food products 22.2 217,200
Chemicals 16.7 175,100
Farm products 12.1 114,500
Nonmetallic minerals 2.4 21,200
Steel products 0.8 9,000
All other carloads 3.4 38,200
Intermodal 0.7 34,100
TOTAL 58.2M 609,300

Terminated in Iowa

Commodity Million Tons Units
Coal 11.7 97,800
Chemicals 4.4 45,600
Farm products 3.5 34,700
Food products 1.6 17,100
Stone & clay products 0.9 9,200
All other carloads 5.4 58,700
Intermodal 0.5 37,300
TOTAL 28.1M 300,400

Carriers Operating in Iowa

Note: In the list of railroads, mileage includes trackage rights. For Class I railroads, mileage is from the railroads’ R-1 reports to the STB. For short lines, mileage is an AAR estimate based on a variety of sources. The map shows rail lines whose primary owner is a freight railroad or Amtrak. The owner may not be the only operator of the line. The map is based on the FRA’s North American Rail Network (NARN) dataset. Low-mileage short lines may not be labelled on the map. Information current as of mid-2026. Please report any updates, errors, or omissions to policy@aar.org.

Class I Railroad Mileage

BNSF Railway 659
Canadian National Railway 752
CPKC 673
Norfolk Southern Railway 43
Union Pacific Railroad 1,554

Short Line Railroads

Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad 2
Burlington Junction Railway 8
Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway 83
D & I Railroad 42
Davenport Industrial Railroad 3
Iowa Interstate Railroad 332
Iowa River Railroad 11
Iowa Southern Railway 35
Iowa Traction Railway 10
Keokuk Junction Railway 1
Waterloo Railroad 7

Contacts in Iowa

Government-affairs leads for the railroads operating in the state.

BNSF
Peter Skosey
Executive Director, Public Affairs
Peter.Skosey@bnsf.com
CPKC
Ryan Nonnemaker
Director, U.S. Government Affairs
Ryan.Nonnemaker@cpkcr.com
Union Pacific
Kelli O’Brien
Sr. Director, Public Affairs
kobrien@up.com

Note: Data are for 2025 except rail employment and truck equivalents, which are 2024. Total state mileage excludes trackage rights. Data are AAR estimates based on information from various sources.