What freight moves on rail and what is the economic impact of freight rail?
• Rail freight is generally heavy, high volume commodities that move long distances. Coal, stone and lumber products are typical freight rail commodities. However, with the advent of containers on rail cars (intermodal or multimodal services) many consumer goods are now moved by rail. In Maine the major rail commodities are: paper products, lumber and other forest products, chemicals used in the paper industry, gravel and other aggregates, fuels (oil and gas) and consumer goods.
