Dwell time (RAILDWELL or RRTD) and train speed (RAILSPEED) are a set of indices broken down by commodity, as well as a sum of all the commodities. Dwell time shows the amount of time a train waits at its origination point for that specific commodity. Train speed shows the average weekly speed in miles per hour, for a train carrying the specified commodity. These indices include rail speed for each of the Class I railroads individually with a seperate data set for the Class I railroad industry as a whole.
Rail Economists, Railroad operations, Shippers, Supply Chain Analysts
The indices show the amount of time a train waits at the origin for a specific commodity, the amount of time a train waits at one of the 10 largest terminals that the specified company owns or the average speed a commodity is moved in miles per hour by rail. These indices can be used as a way to estimate the time it takes to receive or ship a load and can help shippers plan loads. Looking at these indices with weather can better help shippers strategically originate loads. Also, these may influence which railroad one may choose to move goods by if one operates in similar directions as the other. These indices are weekly, and are shown for Class I railroads.
