Free Lane Audit

Your Top 10 Truck Lanes, Priced on Rail

Diesel is at a record and Southern flatbed rates are up about a third in a year. Lanes that lost to truck in 2024 are winning on rail now. Send us your lanes; we price each one on rail carload plus transload and dray against what you pay today, and tell you which ones to move.

Why the math changed this year

Published figures, updated in our weekly Rail Freight Pressure Report.

$6.53
Diesel, US on-highway, per gallon
Week of September 21, 2026, up 3.9% in a week and about $2.50 in a year. Every truck lane reprices with it; rail fuel surcharges move too, but on a fraction of the fuel per ton.
Source: EIA weekly on-highway diesel
+32%
Flatbed spot rate, year over year
National flatbed linehaul $2.67 a mile on September 1; Southeast outbound $3.27, the highest of the top ten origin regions. Load-to-truck ratio doubled in a year.
Source: DAT flatbed report, September 2026
3 to 4×
Rail fuel efficiency versus truck
A carload moves a ton of freight three to four times farther on a gallon of fuel. At $6 diesel that gap is the whole argument, once transload and dray are counted honestly.
Source: AAR, EPA SmartWay factors
~200,000
Drivers expected to leave the pool
The non-domiciled CDL rule effective March 2026 is expected to remove roughly 200,000 drivers over two years. Truckload carriers are modeling double-digit contract increases by December.
Source: FMCSA rule; carrier guidance reported by FreightWaves

Every rail number in the audit is an indicative estimate, not a binding rate. Steel Wheel Logistics is a rail logistics intermediary, not a railroad. When a lane looks good, carrier pricing replaces the estimate.

What you get back

  1. A lane table. For each lane: miles, the rail routing and carriers, rail cost per car and per ton including fuel surcharge and transload or dray, your truck cost per ton, the difference, and a verdict.
  2. Monthly dollars. The saving at your stated volume on the lanes that favor rail, so you can see whether this is worth a meeting.
  3. The next step per lane. Siding, team track or transload at each end, and what we would ask the carrier for.

Who this is for

  • Sawmills, treaters and OSB plants shipping 300 to 1,200 miles on flatbed.
  • Metals, scrap and machinery shippers on step-deck and flatbed.
  • Feed, fertilizer, resin, chemicals and aggregates moving in bulk trucks.
  • Any plant with no rail siding that assumes rail is not an option. Usually it is, through a transload.

What we are not

  • Not a railroad, and not a source of binding rates. The audit gives ranges from published structures; carriers put the real number in writing.
  • Not a truck broker. If a lane belongs on truck, the audit says so.

Related: rail vs. truck calculator, transload directory, how rail freight is priced.

Send us your lanes

Up to ten. Origin and destination as city and state; a rough current cost helps but is optional. We reply within one business day.

Your lanes and rates stay confidential. We never share a shipper's information with a carrier without your OK.

Frequently asked questions

What does the lane audit cost?

Nothing. The audit is free and there is no obligation. If you decide to move lanes to rail, we can run them as your rail desk on a per-car fee, and that is a separate conversation.

How accurate are the rail numbers?

They are indicative estimates built from published tariff structures, current fuel surcharge factors for each railroad, and transload and drayage assumptions. They are not binding rates. When a lane looks good we request carrier pricing, and that is the number you decide on.

What distance makes rail worth looking at?

With diesel at a record and Southern flatbed rates up about a third in a year, rail is winning lanes it lost two years ago. Bulk and heavy lanes above roughly 300 miles are worth pricing; 500 miles and up is where rail usually wins outright, even with a transload at one end.

My plant does not have a rail siding. Does that matter?

No. Most conversions run through a transload near the plant, with a short dray at one or both ends. The audit includes that dray and names the transload options.

What happens after the audit?

You get the lane table and a recommendation for each lane. For the lanes you want to move, we confirm the rail-side facilities, request carrier pricing, and can run the first cars as your outsourced rail desk.