At A Glance

The Great Northern includes 3,422 rail route miles traversing eight states and reaching three Canadian Provinces. In 2009, the Great Northern moved over 124 million tons of freight. It would take over 4.9 million long-haul trucks on highways to move that much freight. The Great Northern saved over 570 million gallons of fuel and over 6 million tons of greenhouse gases. Most of the freight moving along the Great Northern is consumer, industrial and agricultural products.

The Great Northern is also host to passenger trains such as Amtrak’s Empire Builder and Cascades in the Northwest; and commuter trains, including Sound Transit in Washington, Metra in Illinois and Northstar in Minnesota.