What Are the Class 1 Railroads?

Six Class 1 freight railroads operate in the United States: BNSF Railway, Canadian National (CN), CPKC, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific. A Class 1 railroad is any carrier whose annual operating revenue clears a threshold the Surface Transportation Board re-indexes each year for inflation. (Amtrak actually makes seven Class 1 railroads in total, but for the purposes of this article we will stay focused on the freight Class I railroads.)

For the 2025 reporting year, that threshold is $1,094,774,354.

That definition is a revenue reporting rule. It is not a service rating, a size ranking, or a statement about which railroad is better for a given lane. What the classification measures is worth understanding before you use it to evaluate rail. This page covers the current list, the thresholds behind it, and how Class 2 and Class 3 railroads fit. It closes with where the Class 1 network sits inside a door-to-door move.

How a railroad becomes a Class 1

The classification system dates to 1911, when the Interstate Commerce Commission first sorted carriers by size. The Surface Transportation Board inherited the framework and now administers it under 49 CFR Part 1201.

Two resets matter. In 1992, the ICC raised the Class 1 line to $250 million in 1991 dollars. In April 2021, the Board reset it again, this time to $900 million in 2019 dollars, with the Class 2 floor converted to $40.4 million. That 2021 decision is the current basis.

From that base, the STB publishes an annual deflator factor drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index for line-haul railroads. The deflator adjusts each railroad's reported revenue back to base-year dollars, so carriers are classified on real growth and not on inflation. The Board published the most recent set of figures in June 2026.

Reporting year	Deflator factor	Class 1 threshold	Class 2 threshold
2021	0.9535	$943,898,958	$42,370,575
2022	0.8721	$1,032,002,719	$46,325,455
2023	0.8541	$1,053,709,560	$47,299,851
2024	0.8375	$1,074,600,816	$48,237,637
2025	0.8221	$1,094,774,354	$49,143,204

Source: Surface Transportation Board, Docket No. EP 748, published June 26, 2026, effective for the 2025 reporting year.

One more condition applies. A carrier has to operate track on U.S. soil to be classified by the Board at all. That is why two Canadian companies appear on the list below and several large foreign railroads do not.

Class 1 Railroads account for the vast majority of train traffic in North America, including mostly freight with one notable exception. These rail carriers transport containers and other cargo (plus people) across the continent. Depending on location if you're routinely near train tracks, you'll likely encounter the equipment of one or more of these major companies on a regular basis.

In fact, when discussing freight particularly, Class 1 Railroads - or Class I Railroads if you prefer Roman numerals - account for 68% of the total track miles in the U.S., nine in 10 rail-related employees and 94% of total revenues.

List of Class 1 Railroads

At one point - back in 1900 - there were 132 Class 1 railroads. With consolidation, mergers and acquisitions, the group has settled in to the list below. In fact, one such acquisition is reflected in this list, as Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific used to each make the Class 1 category, but they now operate as a combined company known as CPKC with the aforementioned STB okaying a merger.

Amtrak (passenger only)
BNSF Railway
Canadian National Railway
Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern Railway (CPKC)
CSX Transportation
Norfolk Southern Railway
Union Pacific Railroad Company

Class 2 Railroads & Class 3 Railroads

While Class 1 makes up the vast majority of the market share, there are two additional classes that fill out the rest. Class 2 railroads are often referred to as regional railroads, while Class 3 railroads are known as short line railroads. The classes again are broken up via annual revenue, with Class II railroads making anywhere from $49,143,204 up to the Class 1 threshold, and Class III railroads' annual revenue any number below Class 2. It is also notable that each of the three classes has different labor regulations.

Put together, there are 630 Class 2 and Class 3 railroads in the United States - 21 of which are Class 2, while the rest are Class 3. These railroads operate more than 45,000 route miles in 49 states. Some Class 2 railroad examples include the Reading and Northern Railroad, the Long Island Railroad and the near-to-home (for us) Indiana Railroad. Most Class 3 railroads are named for the areas in which they operate, like the Eastern Idaho Railroad, Ft. Worth and Western Railroad and Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad to name a few. Now let's provide a bit more detail on the representatives of the top class.

What Are the 7 Class 1 Railroads?

Amtrak

Headquarters: Washington D.C.

Website: https://www.amtrak.com/

Founded: 1971

BNSF

Headquarters: Forth Worth, TX

Website: https://www.bnsf.com/

Founded: 1995

Canadian National Railway

Headquarters: Montreal, Canada

Website: https://www.cn.ca/

Founded: 1919

Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern Railway (CPKC)

Headquarters: Calgary, Canada

Website: https://www.cpkcr.com

Founded: 2023

CSX Transportation

Headquarters: Jacksonville, FL

Website: https://www.csx.com/

Founded: 1986

Norfolk Southern Railway

Headquarters: Atlanta, GA

Website: http://www.nscorp.com/

Founded: 1982

Union Pacific Railroad Company

Headquarters: Omaha, NE

Website: https://www.up.com/

Founded: 1862

What Class 1 status tells a shipper, and what it does not

Here is where most articles on this topic stop, and where the useful part starts.

Class 1 status tells you a railroad is large, that it operates across multiple states, and that it files a full set of reports with the Board. It tells you nothing about transit time on your lane, equipment availability at your origin ramp, or whether your freight arrives when you need it.

We say that as a company that contracts directly with every Class 1 railroad. The linehaul is one leg of a three-leg move. Origin drayage gets the container from the shipper's dock to the ramp. The railroad moves it. Destination drayage gets it from the ramp to the receiver. Two of the three legs happen on a truck, and the majority of intermodal service failures trace to those two legs, not to the train.

That has a practical consequence when evaluating providers. Comparing intermodal options by which railroad is underneath the move is comparing the leg least likely to break. The questions that predict outcomes are narrower. Dray capacity in the origin and destination markets, chassis availability, and ramp hours against your dock hours. Then the one that matters most: who owns the orchestration across all three legs when something slips.

Geography is the one place the Class 1 list matters directly to a lane. A move from Los Angeles to Atlanta crosses territory no single railroad covers end to end. It either interchanges between carriers or runs on a route one railroad reaches through its own network. That routing choice affects transit time and cost. Ask whoever prices the lane. The answer changes by corridor.

Where the Class 1 railroads fit in an intermodal move

Rail intermodal is the largest single revenue segment for the major U.S. railroads, at roughly 25% of revenue. It has also been the fastest-growing major rail traffic segment over the past 25 years. Around half of intermodal volume is import or export freight. The rest is domestic containers moving the same goods a truckload carrier would haul.

The economics come from fuel and scale. Railroads move a ton of freight close to 500 miles on a gallon of fuel, roughly three times the efficiency of an over-the-road truck. That advantage compounds with distance, which is why intermodal competes hardest on long lanes and struggles on short ones.

The distance point deserves a plain statement. Below about 750 miles, the drayage on both ends consumes enough of the cost structure that intermodal wins a minority of lanes. The service trade is usually not worth the savings. Above 1,500 miles it wins most of them. If a lane is short and time-sensitive, truckload is the better answer, and no amount of railroad capability changes that.

Chicago is worth knowing about regardless of lane. All six Class 1 railroads operate there, and roughly one in four rail carloads and intermodal units originate, terminate or pass through the Chicago area. Interchange between eastern and western carriers happens there more than anywhere else. Chicago conditions show up in transit times on lanes that never list the city as an origin or destination.

Final Words

There are six Class 1 freight railroads in the U.S. If a source says seven, it is either counting Amtrak or has not updated since Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern combined in 2023.
The classification is a revenue reporting rule indexed annually by the STB, currently $1,094,774,354 for the 2025 reporting year. It carries no information about service quality.
Roughly 615 Class 2 and Class 3 railroads handle the first and last mile that connects most shippers to the Class 1 network.
On an intermodal lane, evaluate the drayage on both ends and the party orchestrating all three legs. That is where service is won or lost.
Distance decides mode fit before any railroad does. Under roughly 750 miles, truckload usually wins on the numbers.

We're here to help. If you want to see how a specific lane prices out against truckload, request a free quote and we will run the comparison. More reference material is on the InTek blog.

Related reading:

Frequently asked questions

How many Class 1 railroads are there in the United States? Six: BNSF Railway, Canadian National, CPKC, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific. Some lists show seven by including Amtrak, which is a passenger carrier above the revenue threshold.

What is the Class 1 railroad revenue threshold? For the 2025 reporting year, $1,094,774,354 in annual operating revenue. The Surface Transportation Board re-indexes the figure each year using a Producer Price Index deflator for line-haul railroads.

Is Amtrak a Class 1 railroad? Amtrak's revenue clears the Class 1 threshold and some sources list it as one. Amtrak is a passenger carrier, so freight industry counts, including the AAR's, list six Class 1 railroads.

What is the difference between Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 railroads? Annual operating revenue. For 2025, Class 1 is above $1,094,774,354, Class 2 falls between $49,143,204 and that figure, and Class 3 is below $49,143,204. Class 2 carriers are usually called regionals and Class 3 carriers short lines.

How many short line railroads are there? About 615 Class 2 and Class 3 railroads operate in the U.S. They run roughly 47,500 miles of track across 49 states and touch one in five rail cars at origination or destination.

Which Class 1 railroads serve Chicago? All six. Chicago is the busiest rail hub in the country, and roughly one in four rail carloads and intermodal units originate, terminate or pass through the area.

Do Class 1 railroads haul intermodal freight? Yes. Intermodal is the largest single revenue segment for the major U.S. railroads, at roughly 25% of revenue. That covers international containers and domestic containers moving freight a truckload carrier would otherwise haul.

Does the railroad decide intermodal service quality? Only partly. An intermodal move has three legs: origin drayage, rail linehaul and destination drayage. Two of the three run on a truck, and most service failures originate there.

Looking to move your freight via rail? Consider intermodal solutions with InTek. We have direct relationships with these Class 1 Railroads to offer you the best transport options for whatever your cargo. Just fill in our Request a Quote form to let us know what your needs are, and we'll be happy to follow up. In the meantime, if you're interested in reading more from us, check out our Freight Guides.