Rail and Intermodal in the Spotlight: Will tech and AI drive a new era?

One of our newer traditions at Logistics Management is featuring our Annual Rail and Intermodal Roundtable on the October cover. While it’s one of four in-depth transportation market roundtables led by group news editor Jeff Berman each year, it was actually the first we held 15 years ago—and has since become an annual must-read.

With complexity mounting for logistics professionals, motor freight, air, and ocean cargo always seem to take center stage, while rail and intermodal often fly under the radar—even though they play a critical role in long-haul, high-volume shipments.

Perception plays a big part. Rail networks are fixed, schedules are less flexible, and intermodal involves multiple carriers and modes—factors that can make it seem complicated and harder for shippers to optimize.

Trucking dominates the headlines for obvious reasons: it’s highly visible, responds quickly to economic shifts, and touches customers directly. Meanwhile, ocean and air are capturing more attention this year, driven by tariff shifts, congestion, and global trade volatility—stories playing out front and center in both B2B and consumer news outlets.

“But keep in mind that overcapacity in truckload has shifted some attention back to rail,” says Berman. “Sure, rail networks face their own bottlenecks—terminal congestion, crew availability, and infrastructure limits—but our panelists are seeing incremental service-level improvements across the network. In fact, this year, service levels are the strongest since the pandemic.”

Service-level improvements are encouraging. Equally important, rail and intermodal providers are finally investing in technology—helping to overturn the perception that these carriers are stuck in the past century.

“Sure, railroads are behind trucking, air and ocean in automation,” says Berman, “but our panel calls out that the railroads are investing in tracking, predictive analytics, and customer-facing tools. They stress that rail technology is making significant differences in terms of safety, fluidity and rail efficiency, and we’re only going to see more it.”

Indeed, as our panel points out, performance metrics for rail and intermodal—dwell times, terminal throughput, lane efficiency—are harder to obtain and less often analyzed publicly, but that too is going to change soon. Wait, did someone say, “AI is coming to rail”?

“AI adoption in rail is still emerging, but promising,” adds Berman. “Our panel notes that railroads are beginning to use predictive analytics and AI to optimize network fluidity, better allocate assets and finally provide better visibility to shippers. Oh, it’s coming.”

Speaking of AI, I’m happy to report that we’ve secured Matthias Winkenbach, PhD, principal research scientist and director of research at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics as our keynote for our 2025 Supply Chain Outlook virtual summit (going live Dec. 4). Registration page will posted later this month.

Winkenbach’s address—Intelligent Logistics Systems: How AI Will Transform the Way We Move, Store, and Deliver—explains why AI matters now in logistics, how it’s already reshaping decision-making, and what organizations can do to get there.

“AI is turning supply chains from siloed, reactive systems into connected, adaptive networks,” says Winkenbach. “By blending predictive intelligence with traditional planning, organizations can make faster, smarter decisions while boosting resilience. Far from replacing leaders, AI amplifies human expertise, unlocking new performance levels in a world of constant disruption—and helping humans thrive.”