Insurance
Home›Insurance›Industry & Deals›Freight train thefts top $200 million a year as AI cam…
Freight train thefts top $200 million a year as AI cameras expand
Industry data cited in the story links 2025 freight-rail thefts to more than $200 million of stolen goods across 75,000 incidents, prompting new policing and monitoring efforts.
A modern wave of freight-rail thefts in the United States is costing more than $200 million per year, according to figures highlighted by Insurance Journal, as gangs target rail hubs and exploit vulnerabilities around railcar loading and storage.
The story describes a November Memphis theft involving three men who broke container locks on CSX Corp. railcars, stealing more than $20,000 of items, including women’s clothing for a Belk department store, Lazer Blocks toys, and two cases of Fre non-alcoholic chardonnay. It adds that AI-powered cameras were used to monitor the heist and that a multiagency task force, led by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation with federal, state, and local support, moved quickly after a vehicle tracking operation lasting 11 miles.
Insurance Journal also links the broader rise in train robberies to shifts during the pandemic, saying thefts quadrupled from pre-2020 levels as some criminal gangs pivoted from disrupted drug supply chains to stealing physical goods. It cites an industry group estimate of more than $200 million of goods stolen from 75,000 thefts on US freight rail networks in 2025.
The article further points to other incidents, including a BNSF theft in January that involved about 1,985 pairs of unreleased Nikes worth more than $440,000, and an unrelated raid in Los Angeles that recovered $1.5 million of stolen cargo. It also notes that CSX said more than $900,000 of tires have been stolen from trains across its network since the start of 2023, as freight carriers and law enforcement increase coordinated responses.