Statistical Confusion on Local Railroads


I just came across a publication at my local library called Choose Greater PEORIA Illinois, produced by livability dot com. On page 23, a community profile lists "transportation assets," which include two items which caught my eye-

Five Class 1 railroads for hauling cargo

Six short line railroads

Both are incorrect. Greater Peoria, a designation that based on the magazine's other content matches the five-county official metropolitan area, is served by four Class Is, one Regional and four shortlines. 

American common-carrier railroads are designated as Class I, Class II ("Regional") and Class III ("Shortlines"). These are broken down using annual revenue by the then-Interstate Commerce Commission critieria introduced in 1992 - $504,803,294 minimum for Class Is and $40,384,263 minimum for Class IIs. Carriers with annual revenue below the Class II minimum standard are designated as Class IIIs. 

The Class Is are BNSF Railway, Canadian National Railway, Norfolk Southern Railway and Union Pacific Railroad. The Iowa Interstate Railroad Ltd, a Class II (Regional) carrier, serves Peoria. Four shortlines are the Illinois & Midland Railroad, Tazewell & Peoria Railroad and Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway, which are subsdiaries of Genesee & Wyoming Inc., and the Keokuk Junction Railway, a subsidiary of Patriot Rail. 

It is possible that the publication's "Five Class I railroads" stat refers to lines, not companies. For BNSF, Canadian National and Norfolk Southern, the Peoria area is a terminus. But Union Pacific runs both north and south of the city, thus five lines. If that is what was meant, then it is confusing way to present statistics. As for "Six short line railroads," it is likely that the Iowa Interstate was incorrectly included as part of the six, and that a long defunct shortline, Pioneer Industrial Railway, was included as well. 

It would be nice if those promoting statistics for our area would consult experts before making their incorrect information public. 

- David P. Jordan

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