North American railroad companies by revenue 2022
BNSF Railway leads the market
The railroad focuses on transporting freight commodities such as coal, industrial or agricultural products. In 2022, the company generated some 24.49 billion U.S. dollars in freight revenue and hauled more than 10 million carloads across the country. Its main competitor, Union Pacific, was second on the list in terms of operating revenue in that year, generating around 24.8 billion U.S. dollars in operating revenue from transporting freight like coal, industrial, chemical or agricultural products.
U.S. rail industry
U.S. railroads as well as their competitors in Canada are among the leading railway companies in the world. The United States has one of the longest railroad networks worldwide. In 2016, U.S. railroads transported some 17.7 billion tons of freight, a volume which was greatly impacted by the economic slowdown and dip in demand in the sector due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Rail freight traffic rapidly dipped by over 16 percent between January and April 2020, before slowly rebounding through 2021. Despite this setback, demand is expected to grow; by 2040, more than 24 billion tons of freight will be hauled via U.S. railroads.