Editing Unit train

[[File:Db-152073-00.jpg|thumb|right|A [[Deutsche Bahn]] unit train working for [[Daimler AG]] between the factories at [[Sindelfingen]] and [[Bremen]]]]

A '''unit train''', also called a '''block train''' or a '''trainload''' service, is a [[train]] in which all [[Railroad car|cars]] (wagons) carry the same commodity and are shipped from the same origin to the same destination, without being split up or stored en route.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Unit train |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/615316/unit-train |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |year=2014 }}</ref> 
They are distinct from [[wagonload]] trains, composed of differing numbers of cars for various customers.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.oliverwyman.com/media/WP07-MTE_RR-Wagonload-A4.pdf | title = The Mixed Train Concept: The Best of Both Worlds for European Rail Freight? | author = Oliver Wyman | quote = ...trainload service (point to point, complete train for one customer) or wagonload service (single wagons for various customers, assembled into trains) | website = www.oliverwyman.com | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130626120210/http://www.oliverwyman.com/media/WP07-MTE_RR-Wagonload-A4.pdf | archive-date = 2013-06-26 }}</ref>

Unit trains enable railways to compete more effectively with road and internal waterway transport systems. Time and money are saved by avoiding the complexities and delays that would otherwise involve assembling and disassembling trains at [[rail yard]]s near the origin and destination.

Unit trains are particularly efficient and economical for high-volume [[commodity|commodities]]. Since they often carry only one commodity, cars are of all the same type; often identical. Some commodities (e.g., coal) can be loaded at the origin while the train moves slowly on a loop track. The procedure is reversed at the receiving end, and because there generally is not any commodity to be hauled in the opposite direction, the train returns empty. In the [[United States]] the [[Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe|Santa Fe]] is credited with operating the first true unit train, hauling coal from a mine near [[Raton, New Mexico]] to a steel mill at [[Fontana, California]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Patterson|first=Steve|title=A first for the Santa Fe|pages=12–17|date=February 2025|volume=86|issue=2|magazine=[[Trains (magazine)|Trains]]|publisher=Firecrown Media}}</ref>

== Use ==
Unit trains are typically used for the transportation of bulk goods. These can be solid substances such as:
* [[Construction aggregate|Aggregate]]
* [[Coal]] from [[coal mines|mines]] to [[power stations]]
* [[Coke (fuel)|Coke]] from [[coking plant]]s to [[steel mill]]s
* [[Iron ore]] from mines to [[sea ports|ports]] or [[steel mills]]
* [[Ore]]
* [[Phosphate]] from mines to fertilizer plants
* [[Potash]]
* [[Sand]] (e.g., for [[hydraulic fracturing]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.petroleumconnection.com/blog/insights-into-the-largest-frac-sand-unit-train-on-record |title=Insights into the Largest Frac Sand Unit Train on Record |last1=Cook |first1=Pete |date=December 1, 2015 |website=Petroleum Connection |access-date=September 5, 2016 }}</ref>)
* [[Steel]]
* [[Taconite]]
* [[Track ballast]] or [[gravel]]

Bulk liquids are transported in unit trains made up of [[tank car]]s, such as:
* [[Crude oil]] from oil fields to refineries (can be [{{convert|60000|oilbbl|m3}}] of oil in a unit train of 100 tank cars)<ref name="union_pacific_oil_train">{{Cite web
 |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/usrail-oilshipments-idUSN1E76L18M20110722
 |title=Union Pacific sees rail oil shipments quadrupling
 |first1=Janet 
 |last1=McGurty
 |first2=Lynn
 |last2=Adler
 |first3=David
 |last3=Gregorio
 |date=2011-07-22
 |publisher=[[Reuters]]
}}</ref>

* [[Ethanol]] from ethanol plants to motor fuel blending facilities<ref name="ethanol_train">{{Cite web
 |url         = http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/sep06/keep.htm
 |title       = Keep on Truckin’: Ethanol boom creates transportation challenges
 |first       = Stephen
 |last        = Thompson
 |date        = September 2006
 |publisher   = [[United States Department of Agriculture]]
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110519131941/http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/sep06/keep.htm
 |archive-date = 2011-05-19
}}</ref>
* Molten [[sulfur]] (non-US:sulphur)

Food, such as:
* [[Fruit juice]]
* [[Maize|Corn]]
* [[Mineral oil]] products from the [[refineries]] to the storage facilities
* [[Refrigerated]] food
* [[Wheat]]

Other examples include:
* [[Car|Automobiles]] in [[autorack]]s
* [[Intermodal container]]s, generally between a port and a truck depot
* [[Mail]]
* [[Military technology|Military Equipment (weapons)]]
* [[TOFC]] (Trailer on [[flat car]])
* [[Waste]] (garbage), usually for [[recycling]], often metals or paper

==See also==
* [[Drag freight]], a type of unit train.
* [[Coke Express]]
* [[Merry-go-round train]]
* [[Railex]]
* [[Tropicana Products|Tropicana's]] [[Juice Train]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Rail transport operations]]
[[Category:Trains]]
[[Category:Rail freight transport]]