Waybill Sample - Justification

Supporting Statement for
Paperwork Reduction Act Submission
Waybill Sample
A. Justification
1. Need for Information
The Surface Transportation Board is, by statute, responsible for the economic regulation
of common carrier railroads operating in the United States. A carload waybill, which is a
document describing the characteristics of an individual rail shipment, identifies originating and
terminating freight stations, the names of all railroads participating in the movement, the point of
all railroad interchanges, the number of cars, the car types, movement weight in hundredweight,
the commodity, and the freight revenue. Under 49 CFR Part 1244, a railroad is required to file
carload waybill sample information (Waybill Sample) for all line-haul revenue waybills
terminating on its lines if, in any of the three preceding years, it terminated 4500 or more
carloads, or it terminated at least 5% of the total revenue carloads that terminate in a particular
state. The Waybill Sample is the Board’s primary means of gathering information about freight
rail shipments terminated in the United States.
The Board has authority to collect this information under 49 U.S.C. 11144 and 11145.
Moreover, in 49 U.S.C. 11901(e)(1), Congress provided for specific civil penalties for failure to
submit any such record required by the Board.
2. Use of Data Collected
The information in the Waybill Sample is used by the Board, other Federal agencies (the
Department of Transportation and the Department of Agriculture, for example), and industry
stakeholders to monitor traffic flows and rate trends in the industry, and to develop testimony in
Board proceedings. The Waybill Sample is also a major source of information for states when
developing state transportation plans. In addition, non-government groups seek access to
Waybill Sample data for such uses as market surveys, forecasts of rail equipment requirements,
economic analyses and forecasts, and academic research.
3. Reduction Through Improved Technology
The Waybill Sample may be submitted electronically, and 89% of the respondents do so.
4. Identification of Duplication
This information is not duplicated by any other agency. The Board is the only source of
waybill information.

5. Minimizing Burden for Small Businesses
The Board requires a railroad to submit a statistical sample of the waybills for the traffic
it handles only if, in any of the three preceding years, it terminated 4500 or more carloads, or it
terminated at least 5% of the total revenue carloads that terminate in a particular state. In
addition, a carrier need only report quarterly (rather than monthly) if it submits computerized
(rather than paper) Waybill Samples or it submits less than 1,000 waybills per year.
6. Frequency Reduction Consequences
The Waybill Sample may be submitted quarterly. Less frequent collection would impede
the access by government regulators and private stakeholders to timely information about the
industry.
7. Special Circumstances
There are no special circumstances. (Note: Although 49 CFR 1244.6, states that
railroads submitting computerized Waybill Samples are required to retain copies of the
underlying waybills for 4 years, that retention period conflicts with the 1-year retention period
for waybills provided in section 1220.6. The agency has treated section 1220.6 as controlling in
this matter.)
8. Consultation Outside Agency
The Board provided a 60-day comment period regarding approval of this existing
collection of information in 72 FR 28549. As required, a Federal Register notice providing an
additional 30-day comment period is being published simultaneously with this submission.
9. Payment or Gift
No payment or gift is made in connection with this survey form.
10. Assurance of Confidentiality
The data contained in the Waybill Sample includes contract revenue information that is
considered highly confidential proprietary information. Waybill Sample data is released, subject
to appropriate protective conditions, through the STB Office of Economics. The regulations
governing release of that data are set forth at 49 CFR 1244.9.
11. Sensitive Information
This form does not collect any sensitive personal information.

12. Estimated Burden Hours and Cost
The total burden hours (annually including all respondents) is estimated at 370 hours
(based on 64 respondents, 5 of whom (by their own choice) report monthly and 59 of whom
report quarterly, with an average estimated time per response of 75 minutes. Note that the
burden reported in ROCIS for this IC is only 320 hours because the ROCIS program does not
allow input of data where a small percentage of respondents are reporting monthly by choice.
Therefore, the ROCIS data assumes that all respondents report quarterly. No “non-hour cost”
burdens associated with this collection have been identified.
13. Record Keeping Burden
Waybills are created by rail carriers in the normal course of business. Thus, this
collection does not require additional record keeping.
14. Annualized Cost To the Federal Government
The Board contracts out the collection of the Waybill Sample. The annualized cost of the
contract is $302,296.
15. Program Changes to Items 13 and 14 of OMB Form 83-1
None.
16. Publication of Data and/or Results
Waybill Sample data, aggregated at the industry level to protect commercially sensitive
information, is available on the Board’s website (under Industry Data in the Waybill Public User
Guide).
17. Display of Expiration date for OMB approval
Expiration date and control number for this collection will be published in the Federal
register when the collection is approved by OMB.
18. Exceptions to the Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions
Not applicable.

B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods
Not Applicable.