Station-to-station
Rail freight priced for the terminal-to-terminal haul only — the middle leg of a three-leg move — which excludes pre-carriage and last-mile trucking that can add roughly 10–20% to total freight cost and 1–2 days each.
Freight modeTL;DR: This term is one of 37 definitions in the freight glossary, so the signal is the number it changes — not the acronym. It sits in the Freight mode category and links to 3 related terms for adjacent freight math. Use the example below to turn the definition into a before/after calculation before you quote or clear cargo.
What it means
Station-to-station is rail freight quoted terminal-to-terminal only: the origin rail terminal and the destination rail terminal are covered, but the pre-carriage trucking from the shipper’s door to origin terminal and the last-mile trucking from destination terminal to the consignee are not. It is the middle leg of a three-leg move, and the quote is therefore a cost component, not a landed figure. On a €2,000 Chengdu–Duisburg terminal-to-terminal rate, adding an estimated 12% origin trucking and 15% destination trucking (estimates, MEDIUM confidence) gives €2,000 + (12% × €2,000) + (15% × €2,000) = €2,000 + €240 + €300 = €2,540. The legs also add time: roughly 1–2 days at each end. The trap most buyers hit is comparing a station-to-station rail quote with a door-to-door sea or air quote and concluding rail is cheaper when the missing trucking legs erase the gap. Quotes that omit these legs are not wrong, but they answer a narrower question than the buyer usually thinks.
Why it matters
A station-to-station rate understates landed cost by the trucking legs; on a €2,000 rail quote, estimated pre-carriage and last-mile can add 25–30%, or about €500–€600, plus 2–4 days. Compare door-to-door figures, not terminal-to-terminal rates, before choosing rail.
Example
A buyer budgets €2,000 from a station-to-station Chengdu–Duisburg quote; adding an estimated 12% origin and 15% destination trucking moves the landed freight to €2,540 (€2,000 + €240 + €300) and adds roughly 2–4 days, so the door-to-door cost is €540 higher than the terminal rate.
Related terms
FCL
Full Container Load — a shipping mode where a single shipper uses an entire container, priced per container rather than per unit.
Learn more →LCL
Less than Container Load — cargo from multiple shippers consolidated into one container, priced by volume (CBM).
Learn more →Demurrage
A fee charged when a container is held at a terminal beyond the allotted free time after discharge.
Learn more →