The Surface Transportation Board's Carload Waybill Sample is perhaps the most comprehensive dataset available on railroad movements and trends. More technically, it is a stratified sample of carload waybills for all U.S. rail traffic submitted by those rail carriers terminating 4,500 or more revenue carloads annually. See 49 C.F.R. §§ 1244.1 to 1244.5. Waybill data have broad applications and usage in national railroad policy and regulations, such as rate cases, costing systems, productivity studies, exemption decisions, and analyses supporting regulations. Waybill data are used by transportation practitioners, consultants, and law firms in preparing verified statements to be submitted in formal proceedings before the Board or other public agencies. Various federal agencies use the Waybill Sample as part of their informational and decision-making framework, and many states use it as a source of information for developing state transportation plans. STB creates the Public Use Waybill file from the confidential Waybill Sample file. See the attached documents for more information. The "Reference Guide" document contains additional details on the variables and Standard Transportation Commodity Codes (STCC). In the "Creation of the Public Use Waybill Sample" document, STB provides more detail on the public use sample and how it is created. There is also a map of Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Areas and a document describing the Waybill sampling instructions.
This dataset has the following 70 columns:
| Column Name | API Column Name | Data Type | Description | Sample Values |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Year | datayear | number | USDA-generated column. The year of the dataset provided by STB. | 2022 2021 2018 2006 2019 view top 100 |
| Waybill Date | waybilldate | calendar_date | The waybill date is the date on which the originating railroad prepares the waybill. | 2021-11-30T00:00:00.000 2021-11-29T00:00:00.000 2021-11-24T00:00:00.000 2022-05-31T00:00:00.000 2022-11-23T00:00:00.000 view top 100 |
| Waybill Month | month | number | USDA-generated column. Month number is extracted from the Waybill Date. | 8 10 3 6 9 view top 100 |
| Accounting Period | accountingperiod | text | The accountng period is the month and year during which the study waybill is entered into the railroad’s revenue accounting system. This information is subsequently reflected in the net income statement of the company for the specified account month. | 0322 0321 0822 0522 0621 view top 100 |
| Number of Carloads | numberofcarloads | number | The total number of carloads on the sampled waybill. | 1 3 2 4 5 view top 100 |
| Car Ownership Code | carownershipcatcode | text | (P) Privately-owned car, (R) Railroad-owned car, or (T) Trailer Train. | P R T 0 view top 100 |
| AAR Equipment Type Code | aarequiptypecode | text | Alpha-numeric code giving a general physical description of the type of equipment. | S342 P435 S635 C214 C114 view top 100 |
| AAR Mechanical Designation | aarmechdesign | text | Mechanical designation is dependent on AAR equipment type. | FCA FC LO T FA view top 100 |
| STB Car Type | stbcartype | text | The STB car type is inferred from the AAR equipment type and corresponds to the line number on STB Form 710 for type of car. | 46 41 51 47 38 view top 100 |
| Intermodal (TOFC/COFC) Service Code | tofc_cofcservicecode | text | 3-character alphanumeric describing the intermodal service. See the attached guidebook for more detailed information. | X M Q D H view top 100 |
| Number of TOFC/COFC Units | numoftofc_cofc | number | The total number of TOFC/COFC units reported on the sampled waybill. | 1 0 47 12 35 view top 100 |
| Intermodal Unit Ownership Code | tofc_cofcownercode | text | (P) Privately-owned Trailer/Container or (R) Railroad-owned Trailer/Container. | P R view top 100 |
| Intermodal Unit Type Code | tofc_cofctype | text | (T) TOFC Trailer, or (C) COFC Container, or (U) Unknown. | C T view top 100 |
| Hazardous/Bulk Material in Boxcar | hazardbulkboxcar | text | (B) Bulk, non-hazardous material (STCC 50 series), moved in a Boxcar, or (H) Hazardous material (STCC 49 series) moved in any type of car (blank) neither of the above. | H B view top 100 |
| STCC5 | stcc | text | The Standard Transportation Commodity Code (STCC) identifies the product designation for the transported commodity. This field includes the first five digits of the seven-digit STCC; however, STCC 19 series commodities are reported only at the 2-digit level. See the attached STCC Headers doc for a list of two to five digit STCC headers. Note: This field does not include Hazardous materials (series 49xxx) or Bulk materials in Boxcars (series 50xxx). All STCC 49 and 50 series codes have been translated to actual product commodity codes. | 46111 42211 37111 28211 11212 view top 100 |
| STCC5 Description | stcc_5_description | text | USDA-generated column. Description of the five-digit STCC commodity code from the Waybill Reference Guide. | All Freight Rate Ship Ments, NEC, or Trailer-On-Flat-Car (Tofc) Shipments Trailers, Semi-Trailers, or Containers, Returned Empty Motor Passenger or Air Cars, Assembled Plastic Materials or Synthetic Resins or Nonvulcanizable Elastomers Prepared Bituminous Coal view top 100 |
| STCC4 | stcc4 | text | USDA-generated column. The first four digits extracted from the five digit STCC commodity code. | 4611 3711 4221 2821 1121 view top 100 |
| STCC3 | stcc3 | text | USDA-generated column. The first three digits extracted from the five digit STCC commodity code. | 461 371 281 422 282 view top 100 |
| STCC2 | stcc2 | text | USDA-generated column. The first two digits extracted from the five digit STCC commodity code. | 46 28 37 20 42 view top 100 |
| STCC2 Description | stcc_2_description | text | USDA-generated column. Description of the two-digit STCC commodity code from the Waybill Reference Guide. | Miscellaneous Mixed Shipments Chemicals or Allied Products Transportation Equipment Food or Kindred Products Containers, Carriers or Devices, Shipping, Returned Empty view top 100 |
| Billed Weight in Tons | billedweightintons | number | The billed weight of lading, calculated in tons. | 10 20 4 21 22 view top 100 |
| Actual Weight in Tons | actualweightintons | number | The actual weight of lading (if provided), calculated in tons. | 0 10 20 4 21 view top 100 |
| Freight Revenue ($) | freightrevenue | number | The total line-haul freight revenue, from origin to destination, shown in dollars. Note, STB’s disclaimer: “Please be aware that revenue reported in the freight revenue field may be masked and not equal to the actual revenue on the freight waybill. See 49 C.F.R. § 1244.3.” | 271 286 284 299 298 view top 100 |
| Transit Charges ($) | transitcharges | number | Transit charges, where applicable, shown in dollars. | 0 5400 5580 5086 6567 view top 100 |
| Miscellaneous Charges | misccharges | number | The total of all miscellaneous charges (excluding transit charges and freight revenue) shown in dollars. | 0 45 39 22 44 view top 100 |
| Inter/Intra State Code (inferred) | inter_intrastatecode | text | Normally, an Intrastate routing is inferred if the origin and destination states are the same. However, an Interstate routing is inferred in cases where the origin and destination stations are within a state but the customary routing exits and re-enters the state. Interstate movements also include import, export, ex-lake and lake cargo movements. (1) Interstate, or (2) Intrastate, or (9) Unknown. | 1 2 9 view top 100 |
| Type of Move (inferred) | typeofmoveimportexport | text | (0) Neither import nor export, or (1) Imported commodity, or (2) Exported commodity, or (3) Commodity imported and exported, e.g., land bridge type traffic, or (9) Unknown. | 9 0 1 2 3 view top 100 |
| All Rail/Intermodal Code | allrail_intermodalcode | text | (1) All Rail, or (2) Intermodal - a continuous movement involving at least one railroad and another mode, or (9) Unknown, or (X) Not reported on hardcopy waybills. | 9 1 2 view top 100 |
| Type of Move Via Water (inferred) | typeofmoveviawater | text | (0) Not a water movement, or (1) Ex-Lake (from Great Lakes to reporting railroad), or (2) Lake Cargo (Rail to Great Lakes), or (3) Intercoastal - a continuous movement by U.S. rail which is part of an Atlantic Ocean (or Gulf) and Pacific Ocean movement, in either direction, or (4) Coastwise - a continuous movement involving rail at either end of a coastwise movement between ports on the East Coast (including Gulf) or between ports on the West Coast, or (5) Inland Waterways - a rail movement in combination with a barge movement on rivers and canals (other than the Great Lakes) that is not considered a part of the rail movement, e.g., rail car ferry, or (9) Unknown, or (X) Not reported on hardcopy waybills. | 9 0 3 view top 100 |
| Transit Code | transitcode | text | (0) Not a transit movement, or (1) Transit—indicates that the shipment is the outbound movement from a transit point, where some service has been performed, to the destination point (which can be another transit point), or (9) Unknown. | 0 9 1 view top 100 |
| Substituted Truck-for-Rail Service | subbedtruck4rail | text | (0) Not substituted truck-for-rail service, or (1) Study movement involves substituted truck-for-rail service (for example, a rail carrier may be authorized by the STB to institute truck for rail service when rail service is abandoned or a track is closed for various reasons), or (9) Unknown, or (X) Not reported on hardcopy waybills. | 9 0 view top 100 |
| Rebill Code | rebillcode | text | (0) local shipment, (1) originated—delivered, or (2) received—delivered, or (3) received—terminated. | 0 3 1 2 view top 100 |
| Estimated Short Line Miles | shortlinemiles | number | The short line miles (shortest rail distance between origin and destination), rounded up to the nearest ten miles. | 240 2110 320 2180 2130 view top 100 |
| Stratum Identification | stratumid | text | See guidebook for stratification breakdown. | 1 6 5 2 3 view top 100 |
| Subsample Code Number | subsamplecode | text | This coding (1, 2, 3, or 4) identifies the individual subsamples obtained under the computerized sampling procedure. This field is initialized to a blank for Hardcopy waybills, but a replicate subsample code is added during completion of the master file, using the following formula: Code = Serial Number - ((Serial Number / 4) * 4) + 1 truncated integer. These subsample code numbers are used in a statistical fashion to estimate the standard deviation, or accuracy, of any level for the particular sample. | 4 2 1 3 view top 100 |
| Exact Expansion Factor | exactexpansionfactor | number | The exact expansion factor is calculated for each waybill, according to the formula shown below, and is used to expand the car, ton, trailer/container and revenue statistics to 100% levels. The format of this factor is ‘nnn.nn’ with an implied decimal point. Factor = (Population count / Sample count). | 4000 500 4001 3999 200 view top 100 |
| Theoretical Expansion Factor | theoreticalexpansionfactor | number | The theoretical expansion factor is the inverse of the sampling rate, as indicated by the Stratum Identification number (item 27), and is used to expand the car, ton, trailer/container and revenue statistics to 100% levels. The format of this factor is an integer value. | 40 5 2 12 4 view top 100 |
| Number of Interchanges | numberofinterchanges | number | This figure represents the total number of interchanges between railroads in the route. | 0 1 2 3 4 view top 100 |
| Origin BEA Area | originbea | text | The Business Economic Area code for the reported waybill movement’s origin location. See attached BEA Area Maps. | 000 064 0 160 131 view top 100 |
| Origin Freight Rate Territory | originfreightrateterritory | text | The freight rate territory, as defined by the STB, in which the reported waybill movement originated. See the attached guidebook for more information. | 1 5 2 3 4 view top 100 |
| Interchange State #1 | interchangestate1 | text | The two-character abbreviation for the state in which the reported waybill’s first junction interchange station is located. | IL MI ON MN ND view top 100 |
| Interchange State #2 | interchangestate2 | text | The two-character abbreviation for the state in which the reported waybill’s second junction interchange station is located. | IL TX WI MI NY view top 100 |
| Interchange State #3 | interchangestate3 | text | The two-character abbreviation for the state in which the reported waybill’s third junction interchange station is located. | TX MN NY MI IL view top 100 |
| Interchange State #4 | interchangestate4 | text | The two-character abbreviation for the state in which the reported waybill’s fourth junction interchange station is located. | IL MI NY TX WI view top 100 |
| Interchange State #5 | interchangestate5 | text | The two-character abbreviation for the state in which the reported waybill’s fifth junction interchange station is located. | MI BC MN NY IL view top 100 |
| Interchange State #6 | interchangestate6 | text | The two-character abbreviation for the state in which the reported waybill’s sixth junction interchange station is located. | IL MI WI MD view top 100 |
| Interchange State #7 | interchangestate7 | text | The two-character abbreviation for the state in which the reported waybill’s seventh junction interchange station is located. | view top 100 |
| Interchange State #8 | interchangestate8 | text | The two-character abbreviation for the state in which the reported waybill’s eighth junction interchange station is located. | view top 100 |
| Interchange State #9 | interchangestate9 | text | The two-character abbreviation for the state in which the reported waybill’s ninth junction interchange station is located. | view top 100 |
| Termination BEA Area | terminationbea | text | The Business Economic Area code for the reported waybill movement’s termination location. | 000 064 0 160 127 view top 100 |
| TerminationFreightRateTerritory | terminationfreightratete | text | The freight rate territory, as defined by the STB, in which the reported waybill movement terminated. See the attached guidebook for more information. | 1 5 2 3 4 view top 100 |
| Reporting Period Length | reportingperiodlength | number | (1) Monthly or (2) Quarterly | 1 2 view top 100 |
| Car Capacity | carcapacity | number | Cubic foot capacity of car (for all equipment types except flat). | 0 4750 5161 5800 3281 view top 100 |
| Tare Weight of Car | tareweightofcar | number | The actual light weight (not an average), in hundredweight, for each car. | 2176 0 674 1040 1090 view top 100 |
| Outside Length | outsidelength | number | Distance between pulling faces of the couplers in normal position. The first three- digits represent feet. The last 2 digits represent inches, rounded up to the next inch in the case of a fraction. Example: 5 1/4" = 6". | 28806 0 6408 9310 5301 view top 100 |
| Outside Width | outsidewidth | number | Measurement of outside width of car, including attachments projecting to greatest extent. The first two digits represent feet. The last two digits represent inches, rounded up to next inch in the case of a fraction. | 1008 1005 1007 0 1006 view top 100 |
| Outside Height | outsideheight | number | Measurement from top of rail to top of eaves at side of car. The first two digits represent feet. The last two digits represent inches, rounded up to the next inch in the case of a fraction. | 0 1506 705 504 605 view top 100 |
| Extreme Outside Height | extremeoutsideheight | number | Measurement from top of rail to location where extreme height occurs. The first two digits represent feet. The last two digits represent inches, rounded up to the next inch in the case of a fraction. | 0 705 706 504 1506 view top 100 |
| Type of Wheel Bearings and Brakes | bearingandbrakestype | text | (A) Plain bearings and composition brake shoes, or (B) Roller bearings and composition brake shoes, or (C) Plain bearings and cast iron brake shoes, or (D) Roller bearings and cast iron brake shoes, or (E) Roller bearings, composition brake shoes and constant contact side bearings, or (F) Roller bearings, cast iron brake shoes and constant contact side bearings, or (G) Roller bearings, composition brake shoes, and empty/load brake system, or (H) Roller bearings, composition brake shoes, constant contact side bearings, and empty/load brake system, or (I) Roller bearings, cast iron shoes and empty/load brake system, or (J) Roller bearings, cast iron shoes, constant contact side bearings, and empty/load brake system, or (K) Roller bearings, composition brake shoes and designed for high speed train operations, or (L) Roller bearings, composition brake shoes, empty/load brake system and designed for high speed train operations. | E B D H N view top 100 |
| Number of Axles | numberofaxles | text | See attached guidebook for details. | 4 F B 8 6 view top 100 |
| Draft Gear | draftgear | text | Coding is equipment type dependent; refer to Section 1 of the Umler Specification Manual. | 88 66 77 0 10 view top 100 |
| Number of Articulated Units | numberofarticulatedunits | number | An articulated car consists of two or more cars permanently coupled together in such a manner that they cannot be separated for operations in interchange service as individual cars. Such cars will be operated under one reporting mark and one reporting number. The reported code indicates the number of units permanently attached. The minimum is 2, while 9 indicates nine or more units. ‘0’ indicates that the car in not articulated | 0 4 5 3 2 view top 100 |
| AAR Error Codes | aarerrorcodes | text | Two two-digit error codes are appended to the end of each waybill record. See the attached guidebook for more information. | 0000 1300 0813 7900 1367 view top 100 |
| Routing Error Flag | routingerrorflag | text | This field contains either a ‘T’ (true) or an ‘F’ (false). An ‘F’ indicates that Railinc was not able to sufficiently identify the actual origin or termination point of the route, so as to calculate a carrying distance for one or more railroads in the route. An ‘F’ in this field will be accompanied by a ‘99999’ in the total distance field (and one or more railroad distance fields), and ‘99999’ in all of the split revenue fields. | T view top 100 |
| Expanded Carloads | excars | number | The number of carloads multiplied by the expansion factor. | 40 5 36 270 80 view top 100 |
| Expanded Tons | extons | number | The billed weight in tons multiplied by the expansion factor. | 400 800 160 840 880 view top 100 |
| Expanded Freight Revenue | exrev | number | The total freight revenue multiplied by the expansion factor. | 10840 11440 11360 11960 11920 view top 100 |
| Expanded Trailer/Container Count | extrailcontcount | number | The number of TOFC/COFC units multiplied by the expansion factor. | 0 40 144 188 96 view top 100 |
| Shipment Size Category | shipment_size_category | text | USDA-generated column. This column bins the number of carloads variable into four groups: 01-05, 06-49, 50-74, and 75+. | 01-05 75+ 06-49 50-74 view top 100 |
| Shipment Distance Category | shipment_distance_category | text | USDA-generated column. This column bins the short line miles variable into four groups: "1-500", "501-1,000", "1,001-1,500", and "1,501+" | 1-500 1,501+ 501-1,000 1,001-1,500 view top 100 |