2140-0015 -- EP 385-8 Technical Supporting Statement B 2023 (to ROCIS)

OMB Control No. 2140-0015
December 2023
Expires: 12/31/23
SUPPORTING STATEMENT PART B
FOR REQUEST OF OMB APPROVAL
UNDER THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT AND 5 C.F.R. § 1320

The Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) requests a three-year extension of approval
for the Board’s collection of the Waybill Sample. The Board’s Waybill Sample collection
requirements are codified at 49 C.F.R. § 1244.
A waybill is a document that is generated for a rail shipment that includes the following
information: the originating and terminating freight stations, the railroads participating in the
movement, railroad interchange points, the number of cars, the car initial and number, the
movement weight in hundredweight, the commodity, and the freight revenue. The Board
collects a sample of these waybills and aggregates them into a collection known as the Waybill
Sample. The Waybill Sample is the Board’s principal source of information about freight rail
shipments terminating in the United States. The Board uses the waybill sample data in
rulemakings and adjudications, and for projects, analyses, and studies. Other federal agencies
use the Waybill Sample as part of their information base, and states use the Waybill Sample as a
major source of information for developing state transportation plans. The Waybill Sample is
also used by local government agencies, the transportation industry (including transportation
consulting firms, railroad associations, and freight car builders), shippers, shipper associations,
research organizations, universities, and others with traffic data needs.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods.
1. Respondent Universe and Sample. (Describe (including a numerical estimate) the
potential respondent universe and any sampling or other respondent selection
methods to be used. Data on the number of entities (e.g., establishments, state and
local government units, households, or persons) in the universe covered by the
collection and in the corresponding sample are to be provided in tabular form for
the universe and for each of the strata in the proposed sample. Indicate expected
response rates for the collection as a whole. If the collection had been conducted
previously, include the actual response rate achieved during the last collection.)
a. Potential respondent universe:
The potential respondent universe consists of all freight railroads subject to the
Interstate Commerce Act. To be part of the sample, a railroad must have
terminated at least 4,500 revenue carloads (carloads carrying freight for shippers
rather than empty carloads terminating before their next load, e.g., moving to
repair yards) on its lines in any of the three preceding years, or must have

terminated at least 5% of the revenue carloads terminating in any state in any of
the three preceding years. See 49 C.F.R. § 1244.2(a). Subject railroads must file
waybill sample information either quarterly or monthly under 49 C.F.R.
§ 1244.5(a) and may either sample their own waybills or have a contractor
conduct their sampling. As a result, there are currently four categories of
respondents: (1) five railroads that conduct their own sampling and that report
monthly, quarterly, and annually; (2) two railroads that conduct their own
sampling and that report quarterly and annually; (3) two railroads that have a
contractor sample their waybills and that report monthly, quarterly, and annually;
and (4) 444railroads that have a contractor sample their waybills and that report
quarterly and annually.
b. Sampling/respondent selection methods:
Subject railroads file waybill sample information in an electronic file containing
specified information from a sample of waybills (formerly called the
computerized system). The waybill sampling rates are established by regulation
at 49 C.F.R. § 1244.4. Table 1 below shows the waybill sample rates based on
the changes made in Ex Parte 385 (Sub-No. 8).
Table 1: Carload/Intermodal Sampling Rates
Number of Carloads on Waybill
1 to 2
3 to 15
16 to 60
61 to 100
101 and over
Number of Intermodal Trailer or
Container Units (TCUs) on Waybill
1 to 2
3 and over

Sample Rate
1/5 waybills
1/5 waybills
1/4 waybills
1/3 waybills
1/2 waybills
Sample Rate
1/40 waybills
1/5 waybills

c. Expected response rates:
Respondents maintain waybills as part of their day-to-day operations, and waybill
reporting has been a regulatory obligation since 1946. Accordingly, the expected
response rate is high. All Class I (i.e., large) railroads submit waybill sample
information. Staff estimates that nearly 100% of all other railroads that meet the
required thresholds stated above submit waybill sample information each year.
d. Actual response rate during the last reported annual collection:
In 2022, all seven Class I railroads submitted waybill sample information,
representing a 100% response rate among Class I railroads, and accounting for the
vast majority of sampled waybills. The Board also received waybill sample data
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from 47 Class II (medium-sized) and Class III (small) railroads for calendar year
2022, representing all of the railroads self-identifying as meeting the thresholds to
submit waybills.
2. Describe the procedures for the collection of information including:
a. Statistical methodology for stratification and sample selection:
The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), the Board’s predecessor agency,
first began collecting a continuous sample of carload waybills from railroads
terminating shipments in 1946. The sample was designed to yield approximately
one percent of the total carloads terminated by railroads subject to the reporting
rules.
The ICC revised the sampling process in 1981 to improve the quality of the
sample study results. The revisions included a “stratified” sample, i.e., one with
higher sampling rates for waybills from shipments with larger numbers of
carloads. The decision to use stratified sampling for collecting the waybill data
was based on the frequency distribution of the number of carloads per waybill.
The ICC believed that stratifying by carloads and sampling a higher percentage of
large shipments would ensure that large shipments were properly represented in
the Waybill Sample. The stratified sample was designed to generate improved
estimates of traffic characteristics in the rail industry such as total freight tonnage,
total revenue, and average revenue per car. In 2020, the STB separated the
sampling rates for carload traffic and intermodal traffic and increased some of the
sampling rates. The current strata definitions and sampling rates are shown in
Table 1 above.
Currently, the Waybill Sample captures approximately 8.4% of the total number
of waybills issued and approximately 17.2% of the total number of carloads and
intermodal units moved by freight railroads in the United States.
b. Estimation procedure:
The Board has not needed to develop a separate estimation procedure for freight
rail shipments terminating in the United States because it receives waybills from
respondents and uses the waybill sampling rates established by regulation. See
49 C.F.R. § 1244.4. Those rates are listed in Table 1 above. The procedure for
sampling waybill records is also described in Statement 81-1.
c. Degree of accuracy needed for the purpose described in the justification:
The waybill sample data are used for a wide variety of analyses both by the Board
and other stakeholders, including federal agencies, state agencies, rail carriers and
shippers, and policy researchers. Accordingly, there is no single statistical
formula that can be used to determine a required degree of accuracy for every
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potential application. The waybill provides the Board and its stakeholders with a
rich dataset regarding rail freight traffic flows in the United States and is adequate
for that purpose. Periodically, the Board reviews the waybill to consider changes
to the sampling or collection procedures to ensure that the Waybill Sample
presents an accurate reflection of national freight rail movements.
d. Unusual problems requiring specialized sampling procedures:
Commodities can be billed differently in the ordinary course of business and
methods of billing can change over time. For example, coal traffic tends to move
in very large trains containing 75 or more carloads that are represented by a single
waybill. Chemical traffic, on the other hand, tends to move in single-car
shipments that are individually billed. Intermodal traffic tends to be billed
individually for each intermodal container or trailer. The Board considers traffic
patterns to ensure that the Waybill Sample contains a proper representation of all
types of traffic.
e. Frequency of data collection:
The Board’s regulations at 49 CFR § 1244.5 require monthly or quarterly
submissions of waybill data from subject railroads. The Waybill Sample is
produced by the Board annually, in Confidential and Public Use versions.
Because the Waybill Sample is an annual report, periodic (less frequent than
annual) data collection is not appropriate.
3. Describe methods used to maximize response rates and to deal with issues of nonresponse. The accuracy and reliability of information collected must be shown to be
adequate for intended uses. For collections based on sampling, a special justification
must be provided for any collection that will not yield “reliable” data that can be
generalized to the universe studied.
Subject railroads are required to respond under 49 CFR § 1244, and the Board has not
experienced issues with compliance in recent years. The contractor that processes the
Waybill Sample works to ensure that reporting railroads provide the data on a timely
basis.
4. Describe any tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken. Testing is
encouraged as an effective means of refining collections of information to minimize
burden and improve utility. Tests must be approved if they call for answers to
identical questions from 10 or more respondents. A proposed test or set of tests may
be submitted for approval separately or in combination with the main collection of
information.
There are no tests of procedures or methods currently underway.

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5. Provide the name and telephone number of individuals consulted on statistical
aspects of the design and the name of the agency unit, contractor(s), grantee(s), or
other person(s) who will actually collect and/or analyze the information for the
agency.
The STB’s Office of Economics collects the Waybill Sample. The staff contact is Pedro
Ramirez, who may be reached at (202-245-0333) or emailed at [email protected].
Questions also may be emailed to Board staff at [email protected].

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