The Surface Transportation Board (STB) published weekly service report updates for Class 1 railroads spanning data acquired through the end of Jul ’16. Overall, ethanol and grain transportation speeds remained higher on a YOY basis while weekly held cars finished below average seasonal levels. Ethanol Transportation: • Average train speeds for ethanol transportation continued to remain higher on a YOY basis. Jul 30th grain train speeds of 23.2 MPH were 2.6% higher than the historical average grain train speeds and 5.8% higher YOY. • Ethanol cars held 48-120 hours declined to below average seasonal levels throughout the past four weeks, finishing 8.7% lower than the previous year figures. • Ethanol cars held longer than 120 hours also declined to below average seasonal levels, finishing 40.7% below the previous year throughout the past four weeks. Grain Transportation: • Average train speeds for grain transportation continued to remain higher on a YOY basis. Jul 30th grain train speeds of 23.5 MPH were 4.5% higher than the historical average grain train speeds and 8.5% higher YOY. • Grain cars held 48-120 hours remained below average seasonal levels throughout the past four weeks, finishing 17.7% lower than the previous year figures. • Grain cars held longer than 120 hours also remained lower on a seasonal basis, finishing 15.1% below the previous year on average throughout the past four weeks. Total Cars Online: • Jul 30th total cars online totaled 1.005 million, down 0.1% from the previous week and 2.1% below last year’s figures. Jul 30th total cars online remained 1.0% above the record low experienced during the week ending May 28th. • Jul 30th total cars online by railway were led by Union Pacific, followed by BNSF, CSX and Norfolk Southern.