(3BL Media/Just Means) - â A great of deal of the goods we purchase are transported through highways on trucks, but adding rail to the transportation mix can add efficiency and sustainability to the process of shifting goods to commercial outlets and, ultimately, customers.

Rail company CSX is offering an Intermodal solution to help companies reduce their carbon footprint and transportation costs by merging the economic and environmental benefits of rail with the flexibility of short-haul trucking.

There are several advantages to the Intermodal approach. For one, it takes traffic off congested highways. In 2011 alone, highway congestion resulted in nearly 3 billion gallons of wasted fuel and 56 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, a massive burden on the environment. Intermodal can reduce that problem by reducing fuel consumption, resulting in savings of up to 40 percent on transportation costs when making the switch from long-haul highway shipping to rail.

Second, rail has a much bigger loading capacity, which is how the savings take place. One train can carry the load of 280 trucks, and annual fuel consumption could decrease by as much as 12 billion gallons if just 10 percent of long-haul highway freight was converted to rail, CSX estimates.

The company has a network that comprises 21,000 miles of track crossing 23 states, D.C., and Canada, reaching nearly two-thirds of American consumers. It carries all types of goods, from food to electronic appliances.

Image credit: CSX