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The U.S. Class Is are beginning to increase average train speed, but their velocity through 2005’s first 11 weeks still is lagging behind on a year-over-year basis. Through March 18, average train speeds stood at 24.7 mph for Kansas City Southern, down 10.3 percent; 21.6 mph for Norfolk Southern Railway, down 7 percent; 19.5 mph for CSX Transportation, down 7 percent; 24.2 mph for BNSF Railway Co., down 5.4 percent; and 21.0 mph for Union Pacific Railroad, down 5 percent compared with the same 2004 period, according to Smith Barney/Citigroup's ground transportation research report.

The Canadian Class Is continue to maintain higher average train speeds compared with last year. Through March 18, Canadian National Railway Co.’s average speed of 23.9 mph and Canadian Pacific Railway’s speed of 24.4 mph are up 3.1 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively.

However, all the Class Is are dealing with more cars on line compared with last year expect for CN, which is averaging a flat 114,852 cars. Through 11 weeks, KCS’ cars on line increased 7.7 percent to 27,289 units; NS’, 6 percent to 194,708 units; BNSF’s, 3.1 percent to 199,886 units; CSX’s, 1.8 percent to 234,551 units; CPR’s, 1.1 percent to 69,176 units; and UP’s, 0.6 percent to 321,982 units compared with the same 2004 period.

In terms of average terminal dwell times through March 18, CN's average (based on nine terminals) of 14.7 hours dropped 4.2 percent and CPR's (nine terminals) average of 35.2 hours decreased 0.9 percent compared with 2004’s first 11 weeks. But all the U.S. Class Is’ terminal dwell time averages are up through March 18. CSXT's average (based on 12 terminals) rose 11.1 percent to 30.1 hours; NS' (14 terminals) increased 6.4 percent to 24.7 hours; KCS' (four terminals) went up 3.8 percent to 28.0 hours; UP's (13 terminals) rose 0.7 percent to 29.7 hours; and BNSF's (11 terminals) increased 0.1 percent to 9.9 hours.

Among the U.S. Class Is, UP has improved its service metrics the most as the year has progressed, said Smith Barney/Citigroup Managing Director and Progressive Railroading columnist Scott Flower in the report.

“Average terminal dwell times stand at their lowest levels since early 2004,” he said. “[But] UP's service metrics continue to have substantial room to improve before returning to more normalized levels.”