The Surface Transportation Board announced a series of data modernization steps aimed at improving rail service reporting, expanding public access to agency data and eliminating reporting requirements it no longer considers necessary.
The board issued a final rule updating reporting requirements for Class I railroads. The rule ends supplemental reporting on Positive Train Control expenditures, which the agency said is no longer needed.
It also requires Class I railroads to begin weekly reporting of two service metrics: original estimated time of arrival and industry spot and pull. The board said the new metrics will help it track industry trends and assess changes in rail service.
The original estimated time of arrival metric measures how often a railroad meets its estimated arrival times for manifest shipments. Under the rule, carriers must report the percentage of weekly manifest shipments delivered to their destinations within 24 hours of the original estimated arrival time.
The industry spot-and-pull metric measures how often railroads complete local placements and pickups of loaded railcars and unloaded private or shipper-leased railcars during planned service windows. Railroads must report the metric by operating division and for their overall systems.
The initial reporting date for the new metrics is July 8, 2026. Each railroad must submit a methodology document with its first filing explaining how it derived the data. The board said those documents will be posted on its website.
The STB also launched a beta version of its Open Data Portal, beginning with rail service data collected under its EP 724 proceeding. The portal is intended to make agency data easier to access, search, export and analyze. It also includes basic visualizations for service metrics such as cars online and train speed.
The agency said it plans to expand the portal over time to include all public data collected by the board and to improve the visualizations available to the public.
In related actions, the board closed its First-Mile/Last-Mile Service docket, saying the new metrics adopted in the reporting rule make that separate proceeding unnecessary. It also denied a petition to reconsider an earlier decision not to extend certain emergency railroad service performance reporting requirements and closed the related freight rail service dockets.
The board said the actions mark a shift from emergency data collections to more sustainable, permanent service reporting metrics.
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