Operations over IAIS are largely governed by track warrants, except on the Metra trackage rights chunk in the Chicago metro area. While the Rock had signaling on the line during its operation, most of the system was damaged beyond repair when IAIS took over in 1984. So, it's always a good idea to be monitoring both road and yard frequencies, as track warrants will usually give you a good picture of where a train is going, how much work it has en route, and where it might be meeting the next train. It's also a very good idea to monitor the EOT/FRED frequency when out along the IAIS. While the information given in track warrants is quite useful, track warrants tend to be issued over large stretches of railway, and you probably will miss the warrant unless you're travelling alongside the train anyway. Other voice chatter is infrequent at best (such as trains reporting their location), so the occasional blip provided by FRED will let you know there's a train in the area. It's not perfect (I've passed IAIS trains without ever hearing anything), but it's better than nothing if you're on the move and don't have a train yet.

The IAIS system is held together by two mainstay trains - BICB (Blue Island, IL to Council Bluffs, IA) and CBBI (Council Bluffs to Blue Island), known as the West and East Trains respectively. It takes these trains some 28 hours to work their way over the entire system, largely due to terminal switching times, meaning that a large part of their passage is done under the cover of night. Mixed in with these are the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids trains, the Rock Island-Iowa City trains, and a gaggle of switching jobs that tend to roam out over the road. Based on information from the Iowa Interstate list as well as many fan observations, we have put together a guide to the normal trains that operate on the IAIS system.