http://freightsavingstips.com/2012/01/17/rail-the-other-white-meat/
A great alternative to consider when trying to reduce overall transportation costs is rail. A rail provider can come to your facility and pick up your load just like a truckload carrier. The difference is for the line haul portion of trip, your shipment is moving via rail road.
Rail, like pork, is a healthy and cheaper alternative to over-the-road truckload service.
The down side of using rail is that the transit times are slower than normal over-the-road service; sometimes even doubling the time. However, for stock transfers or inventory replenishment fast delivery is not always required so rail offers a great lesser cost option.
So when evaluating your transportation network, consider the other white meat – rail.