Talk:Railroad classes

Could moving some information around help the article?

The article looks pretty messy right now, maybe if we moved around the tables of info to a separate, independent page it would clean it up somewhat. I'm primarily talking about the "Class III Railroads by state" portion. Cheers, --Ozkwa (talk) 05:56, 14 May 2014 (UTC)

Moved from the article (table by year)

Fiscal year	Cutoff	Railroads	Changes from previous year
1950s		ACY, AGS, CA, AA, ATSF, ASAB, AWP, AD, ACL, BO, BAR, BLE, BM, BRI, CI, CN, CP, CG, CNJ, CRP, CV, CWC, CO, CEI, CIM, CNW, CBQ, CGW, CIL or MON, MILW, RI, CMO, CNTP, CRR, CS, CW, CAGY, DH, DLW, DRGW, D&SL, DM, D&TS, DTI, DMIR, DWP, DSA, EJE, ERIE, FEC, FW&D, GA, G&F, GS&F, GTW, GN, GBW, GM&O, IC, ITC, I-GN, KCS, KOG, LS&I, LHR, LNE, LV, LI, L&A, LN, MEC, MV, MSTL, SOO, MSC, M-I, MKT, MP, MGA, MTR, NC, NYC, NKP, NYCN, NH, OW, NYSW, NW, NS, NP, NWP, OCAA, OE, PRR, PRSL, PM, PLE, PS, P&WV, RDG, RFP, R, SN, SLSF, SSW, SAL, SP, SOU, SI, SPS, SIR, TC, TN, TP, TM, TPW, UP, UTAH, VGN, WAB, WA, WM, WP, WLE, WC,
1953		ACY, AGS, AA, ATSF, ASAB, AWP, AD, ACL, BO, BAR, BSLW, BLE, BM, CI, CN, CP, CG, CNJ, CRP, CV, CWC, CO, CO (PM), CEI, CIM, CNW, CBQ, CGW, CIL, MILW, RI, CMO, CNTP, CRR, CS, CW, CAGY, DH, DLW, DRGW, DM, D&TS, DTI, DMIR, DSA, DWP, EJE, ERIE, FEC, FW&D, GA, G&F, GS&F, GTW, GN, GBW, GM&O, IC, ITC, I-GN, KCS, KOG, LS&I, LHR, LNE, LV, LI, L&A, LN, MEC, MV, MSTL, SOO, MSC, M-I, MKT, MKTT, MP, MGA, M, NC, NO&NE, NOT&M, NYC, NKP, NH, OW, NYSW, NW, NS, NP, NWP, OCAA, P&SF, PRR, PRSL, PS, PLE, P&WV, RDG, RFP, R, SN, SLB&M, SLSF, SLSFT, SSW, SSWT, SAUG, SAL, SP, SOU, SI, SPS, SIR, TC, T&NO TN, T&P, TM, TPW, UP, UTAH, VGN, WAB, WA, WM, WP
1963		ACY, AGS, ATN, ALQS*, ALS*, AA, ATSF, ASAB, AWP, ACL, BOCT*, BO, BAR, BRC*, BLE, BS*, BM, CN, CP, CTN*, CRN CG, CNJ, CV, CWC, CO, CO (PM), CEI, CIM, CNW, CWI*, CBQ, CGW, CIL or MON, MILW, CRI*, RI, CNTP, CRR, CS, CW, CBL*, CUVA*, DH, DRGW, D&TS, DTI, DMIR, DWP, EJE, EL, FEC, FW&D, GWF*, G&F, GA, GS&F, GTW, GN, GBW, GM&O, HBT*, IC, ITC, IHB*, IU*, KCS, KCT* KOG, KIT*, LEE*, LS&I, LT* LHR, LV, LI, L&A, LN, MEC, MNS, MI, MKT, MP, MGAC, MGA, NSS*, NONE, NOPB*, NOT*, NYC, NKP, NH, NYSW, NW, NS, NP, NWP, PE, PBR*, PRR, PRSL, PPU*, PBNE*, PN, PLE, P&WV, PTM*, QAP, RDG, RFP, RT*, R, SLSFT, SLSF, SSW, SDAE, SA, SAL, SOO, SB*, SP, SOU, SI, SPS, SIR, TC, TRRA*, TP, TM, TPMP*, TPW, UP, URR*, WAB, WM, WP, WA,	* Switching and Terminal Companies
1984		AGS, AMTK, ATSF, BLE, BM, BN, BO, CG, CN, CNTP, CNW, CO, CP, CR, DH, DMIR, EJE, FEC, GTW, ICG, KCS, MILW, MKT, MP, NW, PLE, SBD, SOO, SOU, SP, SSW, UP, WP
1995		ATSF, BN, CR, CSXT, GTW, IC, KCS, NS, SOO, SP, UP
1996	$255.9 million	BNSF, CR, CSXT, GTW, IC, KCS, NS, SOO, UP
2000	$256.4 million	BNSF, CSXT, GTW, IC, KCS, NS, SOO, UP	CN took over IC (IC continued to report as a separate company in 2000 and 2001); CR was split between CSX and NS
2002	$266.7 million	BNSF, CN, CP, CSXT, FXE, GTW, KCS, NS, SOO, TFM, UP
2004	$277.7 million	BNSF, CN, CP, CSXT, FXE, KCS, NS, KCSM, UP

I removed this from the article because it's incomplete, if it were complete it would be unwieldy, and it would ideally belong in list of Class I railroads as a simple parenthetical range of years after each railroad, with changes listed in timeline of Class I railroads (1910-1929) and family. --NE2 09:31, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

References

History of Class Migration

Would it be useful for me to add a section describing the history of the Class 1s? Many of the contemporary Class 1 rail companies have been purchased, consolidated, broken-up, re-merged with other rail companies over the past 5 decades, to the point where many Class 2s and 3s and some of the older Class 1s are now combined in to the current Class 1s.

I wonder if a history of how that all took place would be useful. There are such histories provided for the major banking institutions in the United States, maybe it would be informative and useful here... Or is that all pretty irrelevant now? Thanks! Damotclese (talk) 18:52, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Amtrak

Amtrak needs to be removed from the list of Class 1 railroads, it is not classed as such by the Association of American Railroads. Although it meets the revenue criteria it is not a freight line. See link https://www.aar.org/aboutus/Pages/Industry-Information.aspx#.UgTclpLVCZg

Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zxcoleman (talk • contribs) 12:22, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Why?

The article fails to explain the motive to this classification. The question is simple:

Why are North American railroads classified? 90.229.34.175 (talk) 09:26, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

I would amend this question slightly: "Why are North American railroads classified by gross revenue?"SeanStreiff (talk) 18:01, 28 April 2015 (UTC)

From a public relations point of view, it could be advantageous for a railroad to be able to claim, "We are a First Class railroad". However, regulatory costs would be higher, more than offsetting this.

Inflation factor seems incorrectly high

> having annual carrier operating revenues of $250 million or more in 1991 dollars", which adjusted for inflation was $452,653,248 in 2012.

If my math is correct, was the level of cumulative inflation just over 80% from 1991 to 2012? Was that based on CPI (consumer price index) or some kind of industry based price increase measure? — Preceding unsigned comment added by L d allan (talk • contribs) 21:01, 28 May 2016 (UTC)

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Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern have merged...

...so this article now out of date as of 04-08-23. Perhaps someone with some editing knowledge could update it? Rpaege (talk) 20:09, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

The merger is authorized for on or after April 14 [1]. So your statement is incorrect. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 22:12, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Is it worth it to keep passenger railroads on here?

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Long Island Rail Road would have qualified for Class I status by revenue specifications listed on this article (due to making $509 Million in 2022 according to Zippia ), but due to the changing income scale (which is recalculated semi-regularly according income scale) requiring Class I carriers to make a minimum of $943,898,958 according to current Surface Transportation Board standards as of 2021, this would no longer be applicible.

This leads me to believe that it may not be the best idea to leave passenger carriers (such as Amtrak or VIA) on this article if the income specifications change so regularly, as the list may need to be changed annually to keep up with current income reports. As a result, I am not sure it remains appropriate to list passenger carriers on the page at all if a freight component is required, especially as the current US carriers appear to be more volatile with income at present. Pokemonred200 (talk) 17:48, 14 April 2023 (UTC)

Agreed, it doesn't seem appropriate to list passenger carriers since a freight component is required. -- RickyCourtney (talk) 21:14, 14 April 2023 (UTC)