Move By Rail
Transload & Rail-Served Development

Make the Right Call Before You Pour Concrete

Rail-served projects fail in the same places: bad site assumptions, a railroad relationship that was never confirmed, infrastructure underestimated, or a transload solution that does not match the actual volume. We bring Class I operating experience into the evaluation so you can make decisions you will not need to undo later.

Three Decisions, One Conversation

Most rail-development questions look different on the surface but resolve to the same set of choices: do you transload through an existing facility, build direct rail at your own site, or wait and refine the plan? Each path has a different cost curve, a different railroad conversation, and a different operational reality once volume starts moving.

We help shippers, developers, and operators look at these honestly — before money is committed, and before the railroad is told something that will need to be walked back.

What We Evaluate

Transload Feasibility
Is transload the right model for your commodity, volume, lane, and timeline — and which facilities can actually handle it?
Site Evaluation
Does the property support rail? Geometry, grade, access, switching, expansion room, and neighbor risk reviewed up front.
Rail Activation
What does it take to get the railroad to actually serve the site — and on what terms?
Infrastructure Planning
Track layout, capacity, unloading, scale, signaling, and the realistic build sequence for the volume you actually expect.
Operational Planning
How the site will run on a normal day, a bad day, and a peak day, including labor, equipment, and railroad cycle assumptions.
Industrial Development Support
Support for developers, brokers, and economic-development teams marketing rail-served properties to serious users.

Common Mistakes We Help Avoid

  • Treating 'rail-served' as a marketing label rather than an operational commitment
  • Designing track for the first six months of volume instead of the next ten years
  • Underestimating switching and dwell, and overestimating the railroad's flexibility
  • Skipping early conversations with the serving railroad about service plans and conditions
  • Choosing a transloader on price without understanding throughput and reliability
  • Treating the build and the operation as separate projects

How Move By Rail Helps

We approach development the way we approached operations inside the railroad: start with how the site has to run on a Tuesday in February with bad weather, a short crew, and a train that is two hours late. If the plan works there, the rest gets easier.

  • Run an honest feasibility review against your volume, commodity, and lane
  • Compare transload, build-out, and hybrid options on operational and cost terms
  • Engage with the serving railroad early — before commitments are made publicly
  • Pressure-test infrastructure plans against real switching and capacity needs
  • Build an operating plan the railroad and the facility can both stand behind
  • Support negotiation around service agreements, switching, and accessorial terms

Who This Is For

Industrial shippers evaluating new or expanded rail, developers and brokers marketing rail-served sites, transloaders considering capacity changes, and economic-development groups working to bring serious rail users to a region.