railheads

Railhead is a term used in railway operations to denote a point at which trains are loaded or unloaded or the terminus of a rail line or branch. In civil freight networks, a railhead can refer to a terminal facility that receives goods by rail and transfers them to other modes for distribution, such as trucking or inland shipping. In a military logistics context, a railhead is the closest secure rail facility to the front or operational area where supplies and equipment can be offloaded from arriving trains and then moved forward by road or lighter rail.

Typical infrastructure at a railhead includes yards with multiple tracks for assembling and breaking up trains, loading ramps or cranes for containers and bulk cargo, warehouses or staging areas, and sometimes intermodal terminals. Some railheads function as strategic hubs within a regional network, concentrating traffic and enabling efficient distribution, while others serve as temporary or specialist facilities like bulk commodity terminals.

Operational considerations include capacity, train scheduling, track clearance, and equipment availability, as well as security and regulatory compliance. In logistics planning, railheads are chosen for proximity to customers, access to road networks, and the ability to handle required cargo types and volumes. The term also appears in military planning to denote the point where rail-based supply chains intersect with front-line operations.

See also: rail terminal, intermodal terminal, freight yard, military logistics, rail transport.