Cold Weather Hampered Rail Traffic

The extreme cold in mid-February had a major impact on rail movement across northern United States. For the week of February 14, the origin dwell times for BNSF grain shuttle trains averaged 68 hours. That’s the longest since January of 2023. The number of loaded grain cars on the BNSF network that did not move for over 48 hours totaled nearly 1,400. In late November, that total was under 300 grain cars. Strong corn export demand through the Pacific Northwest led to secondary market values for shuttle trains being over $2,000 per car during this past week.