My curiosity got the best of me.
Currently, there are 7 Class I railroads operating in the United States.
Wikipedia lists 328 former Class I railroads that no longer exist.
Rich
Wikipedia tells me that railroad class is determined by revenue. Which makes me wonder, are there former class I railroads still operating, just at a lower (higher) class?
Wikipedia tells us annual revenue goes $504,803,294 is a class 1, $40,384,263 is a class 2 with smaller carriers as class 3 Railroads . this is for fright lines however they consider Amtrak fright so it is class 1 and this is according to the Surface Transportation Board in 1992.
Chuck
The definition of a Class 1 railroad has changed greatly over time. The New York Ontario and Western (O&W), which was considered a Class 1 when it was completely abandoned in 1957. At best it would be a regional RR today.
Yeah, good point.
Rich
According to Wikipedia, that large list was former railroads that no longer exist.
Rich
The Florida East Coast is the only former Class One that has been downgraded, as far as I know.
Yeah, you’re right. I checked that Wikipedia list and it is mentioned that the Florida East Coast is now a Class II railroad.
Rich
I thought of a couple more, after reading Wiki. The Ann Arbor is still around, in a very truncated form and the New York, Susquehanna and Western is around, but greatly expanded. I’m not sure if the Ann Arbor should count, since it did have another name (Michigan Interstate) for awhile.
Thanks Backshop I looked at that list on Wikipedia I could not tell what was still around.
Chuck
The revenue levels determining class one status was changed when the Wisconsin Central started up. Under the old rules it would’ve been a class one. They asked for the change because class one status entails more paperwork being required. Had the change not been made, FEC might still be a class one.
Some of the old class ones still exist, but only on paper. The US lines of CN and CP are technically subsidiaries of the parent, operated as a system under the parent’s name.
Jeff
Wikipedia lists 21 Class II railroads. NS&W is one of them, but Ann Arbor is not.
Rich
Ahh, that’s interesting. Thanks, Jeff.
Rich
If a railroad is classified as Class 1, is it a benefit to the railroad or a heavy burden? What about safety requirements, stricter regulations, income and property taxes?
I came across these comments in Wikipedia.
In early 1991, two Class II railroads, Montana Rail Link and Wisconsin Central, asked the ICC to increase the minimum annual operating revenue criteria (then established at US$93.5 million) to avoid being redesignated as Class I, which would have resulted in increased administrative and legal costs. The Class II maximum criterion was increased in 1992 to $250 million annually, which resulted in the Florida East Coast Railway having its status changed to Class II.
Rich
I know that the Annie isn’t a Class 2. I’m just remarking that it was a Class 1, at one time.
Ahh, I see what you mean about the Ann Arbor. It sure when through a lot of iterations during its lifetime.
Rich
The lack of clarity about the specific pros and cons of Class 1 railroads, including those in Canada (CN, CP, VIA) and Mexico (FXE, TFM), leads me to suspect that they are receiving hidden tax benefits, perhaps in exchange for stricter safety and working environment regulations.
The Surface Transportation Board sets the standards for the different classes of railroads. Here is its mission statement.
The Surface Transportation Board is an independent federal agency that is charged with the economic regulation of various modes of surface transportation, primarily freight rail.
The agency has jurisdiction over railroad rate, practice, and service issues and rail restructuring transactions, including mergers, line sales, line construction, and line abandonments. The STB also has jurisdiction over certain passenger rail matters, the intercity bus industry, non-energy pipelines, household goods carriers’ tariffs, and rate regulation of non-contiguous domestic water transportation (marine freight shipping involving the mainland United States, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories and possessions).
Created on January 1, 1996 by the ICC Termination Act of 1995, the Board is the successor to the former Interstate Commerce Commission (1887-1995) and was administratively aligned with the U.S. Department of Transportation from 1996 to mid-December 2015. The STB Reauthorization Act of 2015 established the STB as a wholly independent federal agency on December 18, 2015.
Rich
FRA regulates safety, and having read more than a few of their regulations, I cannot recall ever seeing anything in them that changes the requirements based on class designation. What usually gets you out from under FRA rules is having an insular operation - one that is not connected to the national network. There are sometimes different rules depending on if the operation is passenger or freight. There are other thresholds for different rules, but again - I never saw anything that referred to classification.
The STB controls mergers, and I while I’m hardly an expert there, I think the review process for mergers is considerably easier if the transaction involves something other than two Class 1 RRs.