East-West Gateway’s September 2022 Map of the Month depicts the freight railroad network for the East-West Gateway region. The St. Louis region is the largest freight hub among comparatively sized Midwestern cities and boasts the third highest volume of rail freight in the nation. The region is served by six Class 1 rail carriers: Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), Canada National (CN), CSX Transportation, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern (NS), and Union Pacific (UP).
Some decommissioned rail corridors have been converted by non-profit groups such as Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (Katy Trail in St. Charles, Missouri and the Madison County Transit Goshen Trail in Illinois) and Great Rivers Greenway (Grant’s Trail in Missouri) for use as walking and bicycle paths.
Active freight lines operated by Class 1 carriers are color coded on the map. Rail corridors that have been converted to hiking trails and bicycle paths are shown with a dotted brown line.