STB Streamlines and Strengthens Data Collection; Introduces Beta Version of Data Portal

The Surface Transportation Board today announced several actions in continuation of the agency's efforts to enhance, focus, and automate agency data collections as part of a broader data modernization initiative. Today's actions strengthen mission-critical data collections, improve data availability and visualizations for the public, and eliminate unnecessary data collections.

The Board issued a Final Rule in Updating Class I Rail Carrier Reporting Requirements, Docket No. EP 787, streamlining and improving reporting requirements for Class I rail carriers. The final rule eliminates the now-unnecessary supplemental reporting of Positive Train Control (PTC) expenditures by Class I carriers. The rule also requires Class I carriers to begin weekly reporting to the Board of two service metrics, original estimated time of arrival (OETA) and industry spot and pull (ISP), that will allow the Board to better observe trends in the industry and assess changes in rail service levels.

OETA. The OETA metric measures a carrier's success in meeting its estimated arrival times for shipments. The final rule calculates OETA as the percentage of all manifest shipments on a carrier's system in a week that were delivered to the designated destination no later than 24 hours after the OETA. The final rule also makes changes to the proposed OETA definition to clarify issues concerning interline movements, original trip plan creation, and situations where a shipper is unable to accept a car.

ISP. The ISP metric measures a rail carrier's success in performing local placements ("spots") and pick-ups ("pulls") of loaded railcars and unloaded private or shipper-leased railcars at shippers' or receivers' facilities during planned service windows. The final rule requires carriers to report the ISP metric for each of its operating divisions and the carrier's overall system, and calculates ISP as the percentage of total scheduled spots or pulls that were successfully performed during the planned service windows. The final rule also makes changes to the proposed definition of OETA concerning issues related to railroad-supplied unloaded cars, the re-ordering of cars after missed deliveries, bad-ordered cars, and situations where a shipper is unable to accept a car.

The Board's final metrics allow for certain flexibility in carrier reporting, designed to allow each carrier to report the data to the Board consistent with the manner in which they track it in the ordinary course of business, with the goal of establishing a time series of individual carrier performance. The final rule establishes July 8, 2026, as the initial reporting date for these metrics. Each carrier is required to provide with its initial data submission a document explaining its methodology for deriving its data, which will be posted on the Board's website.

Today the Board also launched a beta version of its Open Data Portal, which starts with organizing and visualizing the Board's EP 724 rail service data as part of the agency's ongoing data modernization efforts. The Portal enhances the transparency, accessibility, and usability of the agency's EP 724 data. It provides centralized access to machine-readable data, converting information that was previously available only in weekly spreadsheets into a more user-friendly format. Users can easily export the Board's service data to their preferred analytical platforms or large language models.

The Portal also offers basic graphic data visualizations of key service metrics, such as cars online and train speed, to help the public more easily interpret the data. The agency plans to expand the Open Data Portal over time to include all public data collected by the Board and to improve the visualizations offered to the public. The Open Data Portal (Beta) is available on the Board's website at Reports & Data.

The Board today also issued a decision closing the docket in First-Mile / Last-Mile Service, Docket No. EP 767, because that separate docket is no longer necessary with the metrics adopted today in EP 787. The Board also denied a petition to reconsider its decision not to extend required reporting of certain railroad service performance data in Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service - Railroad Reporting, Docket No. EP 770 (Sub-No. 1), and closed both that docket and Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service, Docket No. EP 770, as the Board transitions from those emergency data collections to the more sustainable, permanent metrics established in EP 787.

Today's Final Rule in Updating Class I Rail Carrier Reporting Requirements, Docket No. EP 787, may be viewed and downloaded here. Today's decision in First-Mile / Last-Mile Service, Docket No. EP 767, may be viewed and downloaded here. Today's decision in Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service, Docket No. EP 770, and Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service - Railroad Reporting, Docket No. EP 770 (Sub-No. 1), may be viewed and downloaded here and here.