Association of American Railroads

Association of American Railroads

Association of American Railroads

Freight Rail in Kansas

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Key Facts

  • Freight Railroad Employees: 4,300
  • Freight Railroads: 19
  • Freight Rail Mileage: 4,539
  • Trucks off the Road: It would have taken 16.1 million trucks to handle the freight that moved by rail in Kansas in 2024.
Fact sheet

State Spotlight

Kansas is seventh nationwide in freight rail mileage and tenth in the number of freight railroad employees. In 2025, it was fifth nationally in originated rail shipments of farm products (mostly wheat and corn, but soybeans, milo, and sorghum as well). Other top products that originate by rail in Kansas include motor vehicles, cement, and food products like soybean meal, flour, and soybean oil. Coal for electricity generation is by far the top rail terminated product for Kansas; others include motor vehicles, farm products, cement, and crushed stone for construction and other applications. Kansas is fifth nationwide in terms of the total amount of rail freight that originates, terminates, or passes through the state, a testament to the state’s central location.

Celebrating 200 Years of Rail
(1827-2027)

Texas longhorns helped put Abilene, Kansas, on the railroad map. Beginning in the 1860s, cattle driven north from Texas were loaded onto trains for distant markets, helping launch the great cattle-drive era and cementing rail’s role in Kansas agriculture.

What Moves by Rail

2025 Data

Originated in Kansas

Commodity Million Tons Units
Farm products 14.0 132,600
Food products 3.7 37,200
Chemicals 2.8 28,800
Stone & clay products 1.4 14,200
Petroleum products 1.4 15,800
All other carloads 4.4 59,400
Intermodal 3.3 195,200
TOTAL 31.0M 483,200

Terminated in Kansas

Commodity Million Tons Units
Coal 6.3 52,500
Farm products 2.0 19,000
Chemicals 1.8 18,500
Food products 1.4 14,900
Stone & clay products 1.4 13,500
All other carloads 5.3 72,300
Intermodal 2.9 210,800
TOTAL 21.1M 401,500

Carriers Operating in Kansas

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 1,580
CPKC 18
Norfolk Southern Railway 2
Union Pacific Railroad 2,199

Short Line Railroads

Blue Rapids Railway 10
Boot Hill & Western Railway 4
Cimarron Valley Railroad 191
Garden City Western Railway 36
Hutchinson and Northern Railway 5
Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad 833
Kansas City West Bottoms Railroad 2
Kaw River Railroad 3
Kyle Railroad 419
Land Rush Rail Corp. 18
Missouri & Northern Arkansas Railroad 4
Ottawa Northern Railroad 11
South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad 350
V & S Railway 27
Wichita Terminal Association 7

Contacts in Kansas

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

BNSF
Andy Williams
Executive Director, Public Affairs
Andy.Williams@bnsf.com
CPKC
Ryan Nonnemaker
Director, U.S. Government Affairs
Ryan.Nonnemaker@cpkcr.com
Union Pacific
Ben Jones
Sr. Director, Public Affairs
Bwjones1@UP.com
G&W
Ross Lane
AVP, Government Affairs
ross.lane@gwrr.com
Watco
Laura McNichol
SVP, Chief Sustainability Officer
lam@watco.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.