Cornelius Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt consolidated separate rail lines into a single through route, a step toward the integrated freight networks shippers rely on today. He started with a Staten Island ferry, competed fiercely on steamboat routes with lower fares, and in his seventies bought control of the Hudson River Railroad and the New York Central, merging them in 1869. Through service under one operator cut transfers and delays for freight moving between New York and the Midwest. Modern Class I railroads and the rate competition between carriers on major lanes descend from consolidations like his.

• Intermodal FreightFreight moved by rail and truck in one box
• Contract RateFreight price locked in for a set term

• James J. Hill1838–1916 · Builder of the Great Northern Railway

• First Transcontinental Railroad1869 · Rails from east and west meet at Promontory Summit
• Erie Canal1825 · A 363-mile canal links the Great Lakes to the Atlantic
• Penn Central Bankruptcy1970 · The largest US railroad files for bankruptcy

1. Cornelius Vanderbilt (Biography.com) biography.com
2. Cornelius Vanderbilt (Hudson River Valley Institute) hudsonrivervalley.org