Make it 1,000 trains for Rail Modal Group after milestone load in Minot
11/11/2025
By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor
Rail Modal Group (RMG), BNSF Railway and the Minot Area Chamber Economic Development Corp. (MACEDC) recently marked a seminal event at an intermodal facility in Minot, North Dakota.
A train loaded with containers at the hub became the 1,000th train loaded at RMG’s intermodal operations in Minot, Amarillo, Texas, and Fremont, Nebraska.
The 136-acre Minot Intermodal Facility anchors the 800-acre Logistics Park North Dakota (LPND) in north-central North Dakota and features more than three miles of track served by BNSF. Operated by RMG, the facility handles shipments for regional exporters of various agricultural and manufactured products.
More than five years ago, the MACEDC established relationships with BNSF and the Northwest Seaport Alliance — a joint venture among the ports in Seattle and Tacoma, Washington — to identify an operator for the intermodal facility and launch the Minot hub. To help develop the facility, the MACEDC purchased asset rights to secure key partnerships and assisted in the establishment of the hub’s long-term leasing and operational model.
Additional partners and promoters of the intermodal facility include RMG, the city of Minot, North Dakota Department of Agriculture, North Dakota Department of Commerce and North Dakota Trade Office.
By accessing the Seattle and Tacoma ports — as well as tapping dozens of overseas ports — the hub can be used to transport commodities such as soybeans, pulses, dried distiller’s grains, bagged lignite, sugar beet pulp pellets and various ag goods to international markets more efficiently, MACEDC officials say.
Providing twice weekly rail service via BNSF to area farmers and processors out of the intermodal facility at LPND “is truly a game changer for the region and the state,” says MACEDC Economic Development Specialist Mark Lyman.
“We have opened up international options, at a lower cost, for farmers of all sizes to take advantage of,” he says. “These options mean more income can return to the state and the businesses and farmers that use the intermodal facility.”
Since the facility opened in October 2020, RMG has loaded and sent out more than 130 trains from the hub, which now averages three to five trains per month.
RMG has expanded its inland port operations across multiple states over time, and the Minot facility now serves as its critical hub, according to the service provider. The company also provides export/import, drayage, supply chain management and refrigerated/dry cargo services.
In addition to the intermodal hub in Minot, Rail Modal Group operates intermodal facilities in Amarillo, Texas, and Fremont, Nebraska. Minot Area Chamber Economic Development Corp. RMG offers a matchback program that enables empty containers to be repositioned, loaded locally in Minot and sent back to West Coast ports.
“Minot has positioned itself as a competitive player in global logistics. With shovel-ready property and a strong intermodal partner in Rail Modal Group, we’re not just moving goods, we’re moving economic opportunity forward,” said MACEDC President and CEO Brekka Kramer in a press release.
The success registered so far by the intermodal hub and RMG sets the stage for additional investment and growth in Minot, she said. MACEDC and its partners are considering opportunities for expansion, both in the number of trains serving the hub and the diversity of commodities handled there.
There are hundreds of acres of shovel-ready property available within the LPND. New industrial and logistics facilities can be at the park adjacent to the BNSF-served track, reducing startup time and risk for future investors, MACEDC officials say.
“The LNPD is the larger, overall land/facility that has had either tenants or shipments occurring for 10-plus years,” says Lyman. “AGT Foods is an anchor tenant [there].”
