A rail-service figure is not fully explained by its label. The Surface Transportation Board’s final rule published December 5, 2016 requires reporting railroads to explain how they derive their data with the initial filing and update that explanation when methods change. This December 6 coverage concerns that prior-day publication, not a second regulatory announcement. [2016-29131][2016-10442]

The May 5 supplemental proposal provides a useful example of metric design. For grain-car orders, it proposed state-level reporting of overdue orders, average days late, new and filled orders, and cancellations attributed separately to shipper and railroad. It defined an overdue order by reference to the delivery window. These were specific proposed categories, not interchangeable descriptions of overall service. [2016-29131][2016-10442]

The final grain-order provision uses running totals and specified overdue ranges for covered manifest-service cars. Kansas City Southern is exempt from state-level grain reporting in favor of system-wide data. A comparison that ignored either the change from the proposal or the geographic exception could suggest a precision the final reporting framework does not provide. [2016-29131][2016-10442]

The adopted rules apply to Class I railroads and the Chicago Transportation Coordination Office through its Class I members. They specify January 29, 2017 effectiveness and February 8 initial reporting, with weekly submissions alongside monthly, semiannual and occasional elements. Methodology disclosure helps readers interpret those different observations; it does not ensure identical operations or perfect comparability. The proposal and final rule are one agency evidence chain and do not demonstrate that reporting has improved train performance. [2016-29131][2016-10442]

Source documents

  1. United States Rail Service Issues-Performance Data Reportinghttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-12-05/html/2016-29131.htm
  2. United States Rail Service Issues-Performance Data Reportinghttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-05-05/html/2016-10442.htm