Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS)
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TABLE D-4 Rail Freight Average Speeds, Revenue Ton-Miles, and Terminal Dwell Times

Line-haul speed is a shipper-related indicator of the performance of the railroad industry. The average speed is the over-the-road train speed and does not include terminal dwell time, time for local pickup and delivery, and the time shipments spend in storage yards.

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Quarter Average line-haul speed (mph) Revenue ton-miles
(billions)
Average terminal dwell time (hours)
1999 Q3 23.0 364.0 U
1999 Q4 23.3 372.8 U
2000 Q1 24.2 358.6 U
2000 Q2 23.9 359.7 U
2000 Q3 23.8 376.0 U
2000 Q4 24.0 361.3 U
2001 Q1 24.4 370.4 U
2001 Q2 24.0 364.6 U
2001 Q3 24.3 367.7 U
2001 Q4 24.8 371.3 U
2002 Q1 25.4 352.0 U
2002 Q2 25.6 369.1 U
2002 Q3 24.9 361.2 U
2002 Q4 25.2 364.2 U
2003 Q1 24.7 368.4 U
2003 Q2 24.3 379.2 U
2003 Q3 23.7 387.6 U
2003 Q4 23.6 396.0 U
2004 Q1 23.2 395.6 U
2004 Q2 22.3 409.8 27.0
2004 Q3 22.5 417.3 26.4
2004 Q4 22.1 429.3 27.3
2005 Q1 21.7 416.7 27.4
2005 Q2 21.6 417.8 26.3
2005 Q3 21.7 421.0 25.9
2005 Q4 20.8 420.6 27.2

KEY: U = data are unavailable.

NOTES: The Bureau of Transportation Statistics calculated the average overall line-haul speed by taking a weighted average (using freight car-miles) of the individual railroad average speeds. Data cover Class I railroads only (see Glossary for definition). Average line-haul speed and terminal dwell time exclude the Canadian National Railway because they have stopped releasing those data. Average line-haul speed data for 2005 are preliminary.

SOURCES: Average line-haul speed and terminal dwell time-U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, calculations using data reported by Class I railroads to the Association of American Railroads for posting at http://www.railroadpm.org/, and Surface Transportation Board (STB), Statistics of Class I Railroads in the United States, table 8, available at http://www.stb.dot.gov/, as of August 2006. Revenue ton-miles-STB, Quarterly Selected Earnings Report, available at http://www.stb.dot.gov/, as of August 2006



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