Key Facts
- Holiday goods move months before shoppers buy them.
- Intermodal containers shift easily between ships, trains, and trucks.
- Freight rail moves large volumes inland efficiently and with lower emissions.
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Americans spent more than $1 trillion during the 2025 holiday season, according to the National Retail Federation. Pokémon cards, Barbie, LEGO sets, Hot Wheels, and Nintendo games were among the hottest gifts. Pokémon alone generated $2.5 billion in U.S. toy sales that year. Some of those favorites are shaping up to be big gifts again in 2026.
So how do trains help get those gifts under the tree? Freight railroads move huge quantities of consumer goods in intermodal containers, connecting ports with distribution centers and markets across the country. Long before a gift reaches a store shelf or doorstep, it may have crossed an ocean by ship, traveled hundreds or thousands of miles by train, and finished its journey by truck. Much of that journey can happen during the summer, months before the holiday shopping season kicks off.
Holiday gifts often travel in intermodal containers.
Nearly every gift (and nearly everything in your home) has to get to you somehow. For many consumer goods, that journey includes intermodal shipping. These standardized containers, often seen on trucks along the highway, can carry almost anything that fits inside, from toys and electronics to clothing and home goods.
The same container can move by ship, train, and truck without unloading the freight inside, or it can be unloaded near the port and then reloaded along with other freight going to the same place and sent inland. Each mode plays a role: ships cross oceans, railroads move large volumes long distances inland, and trucks connect rail terminals to distribution centers, stores, and customers. The journey of a container is often:
Factory → Train or Truck → Foreign Port → Ship → U.S. Port → Freight Train → Distribution Center → Truck → Store or Customer
Freight railroads are a critical part of intermodal shipping.
U.S. railroads handled 14.06 million intermodal containers and trailers in 2025, up 1.5%, or nearly 213,000 units, from 2024. It was the second-highest annual intermodal volume on record. Roughly half of rail intermodal volume is associated with imports or exports.
Freight trains provide retailers with enormous capacity. A single intermodal train can carry the equivalent of hundreds of truckloads. And those containers can hold a lot. To put just one in perspective, a 40-foot intermodal container could theoretically hold about 10 million Pokémon cards once packaged for shipment.
Shipping intermodal containers on freight trains is also good for the environment. On average, one train moves one ton nearly 500 miles on a single gallon of fuel, and trains are three to four times more fuel efficient than trucks, on average.
Holiday gifts are moving while it’s still summer.
While you’re shopping for a swimsuit or patio furniture, retailers may already be preparing shipments of winter coats, faux Christmas trees, and other holiday goods. For imports, products can spend weeks crossing the ocean before containers even begin their journey from U.S. ports to inland markets. A typical timeline might look like this:
- Fall 2025: Retailers forecast demand, decide what to sell, and start designing the merchandise.
- Winter/Spring 2026: Buyers finalize orders, and factories prepare production.
- Spring/Summer 2026: Merchandise is manufactured and packaged.
- Summer/Early Fall 2026: Containers move by ship, rail, and truck through U.S. distribution networks.
- Fall/Holiday 2026: Merchandise reaches stores and fulfillment centers.
The peak months for intermodal are typically August, September, and October, largely because so much holiday-related freight is already on the move then.
Sometimes, shoppers surprise retailers.
KPop Demon Hunters became a breakout hit after its June 2025 release. Demand emerged so quickly that much of the official merchandise couldn’t be manufactured and distributed in large quantities in time for Christmas. A limited selection made it to shoppers for the holidays, while broader product lines followed in 2026.
That’s a big challenge freight networks have to solve for. Retailers plan shipments months ahead, but consumer demand can change quickly. Intermodal gives shippers access to the capacity and flexibility of rail for moving large volumes between ports and inland markets, combined with trucks for the first and/or last legs of the trip.
This is one reason freight railroads’ private investments in their intermodal networks matter. Railroads expand intermodal terminals, add tracks and container-handling space, install cranes that transfer containers between trains and trucks, and deploy technology that helps manage containers through busy terminals. These investments increase the number of trains and containers terminals can handle, helping railroads provide capacity when retailers need to replenish inventory or respond to changing demand.
Read the AAR Audio Narration
This is AAR Audio, and you’re listening to How Do Trains Move Holiday Gifts?
Let’s imagine it’s summer and you’re thinking about the beach and fun in the sun.
Guess what retailers are thinking about.
The holiday season.
That’s because a large portion of holiday shipping actually happens in the summer.
Here’s what the overall timeline for shipping holiday goods looks like.
Retailers often forecast demand, decide what to sell, and start designing the merchandise a full year before the holidays — so, the previous fall.
By winter and spring, buyers finalize orders, and factories prepare production.
By spring and summer, merchandise is manufactured and packaged.
In summer and early fall, containers move by ship, rail, and truck through U.S. distribution networks.
And by fall into the actual holiday season, merchandise reaches stores and fulfillment centers.
This is why August, September, and October are typically the busiest months for intermodal rail.
So, how does a holiday gift get from a factory halfway around the world to your doorstep?
For many products, the answer is intermodal.
You know those big containers you see stacked on cargo ships, riding on trains, and rolling down the highway?
They can carry almost anything that fits inside — toys, electronics, clothing, home goods, and plenty of holiday gifts.
And the same container can move by ship, train, and truck without anyone unloading what’s inside.
A gift’s journey might look something like this:
It’s made in a factory.
It gets loaded onto a truck or train.
That truck or train takes it to a port.
It gets loaded onto a cargo ship.
The cargo ship travels to a U.S. port.
It gets loaded back onto a freight train.
That freight train takes it to a distribution center.
It gets loaded onto another truck.
And that truck takes it either to a fulfillment center, a store, or possibly straight to your doorstep.
Each mode handles the part of the trip it does best.
Ships cross oceans.
Freight trains move huge volumes long distances inland.
And trucks often handle the first and final miles.
Just how much can trains move?
A single intermodal train can carry the equivalent of hundreds of truckloads.
And those containers can hold a lot.
Take Pokémon cards.
One 40-foot intermodal container could theoretically hold around 10 million packaged Pokémon cards.
One container.
Now picture hundreds of containers on a train.
That scale is a big reason freight rail works so well for consumer goods.
It’s also efficient.
On average, a freight train can move one ton of goods nearly 500 miles on a single gallon of fuel.
And rail is three to four times more fuel efficient than trucks, on average.
Now, there can be a challenge with planning all of this holiday transportation so far ahead.
Sometimes, shoppers surprise everyone.
KPop Demon Hunters is a great example.
It became a breakout hit after its June 2025 release.
Suddenly, people wanted merchandise.
But there wasn’t a warehouse somewhere already filled with millions of products waiting for that to happen.
Those products had to be designed.
Manufactured.
Packaged.
Shipped.
And distributed.
Demand grew so quickly that much of the official merchandise couldn’t reach shoppers in large quantities before Christmas.
More products followed in 2026.
To keep up with rising and changing demand, freight railroads keep investing in their intermodal networks.
They expand terminals.
Add tracks and container space.
Install huge cranes that move containers between trains and trucks.
And use technology to keep everything flowing through increasingly busy facilities.
All of that helps retailers restock inventory and respond when something suddenly becomes the gift everyone wants.
While the holidays come in December, the transportation magic that makes it all happen starts months earlier.
Sometimes, while you’re still at the pool.
The Bottom Line
By the time you buy a holiday gift, there’s a good chance it crossed an ocean, traveled inland by freight rail, and reached a distribution center weeks or months earlier. The holidays arrive in November and December, but freight rail helps deliver them months before.