Interactions between rail and transportation networks on commodity price behavior and grain flows remains an important issue in the agricultural sector, from both an industry and policy perspective. This study explores the determinants of commodity price basis and basis convergence with a particular focus on the influence of futures market speculation in conjunction with rail rates and transportation networks, and finds that speculative positions have a significant widening impact on the basis. An overview of the data automation and data sourcing routines used in the study, employing the Ag-Analytics.org platform, is also presented.