NS and UP made 'revenue adequate' grade in 2012, STB says

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) in an Oct. 17 decision found that Norfolk Southern Railway and Union Pacific Railroad were the only two "revenue adequate" Class Is in 2012.

The designation means those two Class Is achieved a rate of return equal to or greater than the board's calculation of the rail industry's average cost of capital last year. The STB determined that the industry's cost of capital in 2012 was 11.12 percent.

The board calculated a revenue adequacy figure for each Class I — other than BNSF Railway Co. — by comparing the cost-of-capital figure with return-on-investment (ROI) data obtained from the railroads. BNSF's revenue adequacy will be determined at a later date, STB officials said in the decision.

The board's ROI figures for the six other Class Is are CSX Transportation, 10.81 percent; CN, 10.19 percent; Kansas City Southern, 9.54 percent; NS, 11.48 percent; Soo Line Corp. (including Canadian Pacific's U.S. affiliates), 5.15 percent; and UP, 14.69 percent.

The STB previously determined that NS and UP were the only revenue adequate Class Is in 2011, and that UP was the only revenue adequate Class I in 2010.