Instructions for Condensed Balance Sheet

Surface Transportation Board
Quarterly Condensed Balance Sheet
General instructions

Under order of the Surface Transportation Board, Class I railroads, excluding switching and terminal
companies, are required to submit Condensed Balance Sheet quarterly. Reports must be prepared on a
calendar quarter basis beginning with the first day of January, April, July, and October. Forms are due 30
days after the end of the quarter.
The template provided includes this instruction form, a signature form, and a separate comma separated
(CSV) file. The signature form must be filled out by appropriate parties and submitted electronically with
the CSV file. Please do not leave remarks in the CSV.
CSV Instructions
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Do not change the values in the cells for columns A through O.
The data corresponding to the appropriate line must be inserted into fact_value column X.
Data in column X must be in the format specified by three columns: columns M, measure_scale;
N, measure_units; and O, measure_data_type. For dollar figures, the measure_scale is 1 and
measure_data_type is integer. Report this information rounded to the nearest dollar. Values must
be reported plainly, without additional format, such as dollar signs or commas to separate
thousands.
The items reported on Form CBS must be taken from and agree with the accounts kept in
conformity with the current “Uniform System of Accounts for Railroad Companies” prescribed
by the Surface Transportation Board. Report undistributed earnings from certain investments in
Account 721, in accordance with “The Equity Method of Accounting for Certain Long-Term
Investments in Common Stocks.” Noted on each line in column I, the account numbers refer to
the accounts in the Uniform System of Accounts.
For any negative value in the sheet, use a minus sign, not the accounting parenthesis.
Except in unusual circumstances, which must be explained in the filings, totals must equal the
sum of the corresponding data lines, but within rounding tolerances. When rounding is required,
do not sum rounded figures; please sum actual figures and then round the result.

Column instructions
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P, railroad_aar_reporting_mark: The alpha railroad ID used by the AAR.
Q, railroad_name: The legal name of the railroad.
R, railroad_signatory_employee_name: The name/s of the signatory/ies.
S, railroad_signatory_employee_phone_number: The contact information of the signatory/ies.
T, railroad_signatory_employee_email_address: The contact information of the
signatory/ies.
U, report_year: The reference year (e.g., 2024) of the report.
V, report_quarter: The quarter (1 through 4) of the report.
W, report_amended_boolean: Must contain a boolean marker, denoted as either (a) TRUE if
this data is a revision to data previously submitted to the Board, or (b) FALSE otherwise.

CSVs must not include additional rows or columns, and data must be in the same cells that are
provided in the templates. Failure to follow specific instructions will result in a need to refile.
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Submissions are electronically checked for numeric consistency. If you have any questions, please
contact the Office of Economics.

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