what is the current definition of the classes for freight railroads in the US? I know the STB and AAR have different numbers, but what are the current stats. everywhere I look seems to have different million dollar levels.
Thanks for any help!
STB/DOT/Federal Interpretation:
Right out of 49CFR1201’s daffynitions (unchanged since 2002)
1–1 Classification of carriers. (a) For purposes of accounting and reporting, carriers are grouped into the following three classes:
Class I: Carriers having annual carrier operating revenues of $250 million or more after applying the railroad revenue deflator formula shown in Note A.
Class II: Carriers having annual carrier operating revenues of less than $250 million but in excess of $20 million after applying the railroad revenue deflator formula shown in Note A.
Class III: Carriers having annual carrier operating revenues of $20 million or less after applying the railroad revenue deflator formula shown in Note A
Note A: The railroad revenue deflator formula is based on the Railroad Freight Price Index developed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The formula is as follows:
Current Year’s Revenues × (1991 Average Index/Current Year’s Average Index)
AAR’s definition are totally applied in a different (mileage & revenue)manner:
Class I railroads account for 67% of the industry’s mileage, 89 percent of its employees, and 93 percent of its freight revenue. They operate in 44 states and the District of Columbia concentrate largely on long-haul, high-density intercity traffic lanes. There are seven Class I railroads: BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Grand Trunk Corporation (owned by Canadian National), Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, Soo Line (owned by Canadian Pacific), and Union Pacific.
Regional railroads have revenue of between $40 million and the Class I threshold or operate at least