U.S. Railroad Route Miles and Revenue

Route Miles or Road Miles: Total length of Class I railroad routes in the U.S. excluding yards, sidings, and parallel (multiple main) tracks. U.S. railroad route mileage peaked in 1916 and began a steady decline that accelerated in the 1970s through 1990s. Much of the mileage decline since the 1970s is the result of Class I railroads selling and abandoning lower density branches. Many of these routes were acquired by the smaller Class II and Class III railroads which today own around 43,000 route miles. As of 2014, the total U.S. rail network (all classes) consists of approximately 137,000 routes miles.

Track Miles: Total length of Class I railroad trackage in the U.S. including yards, sidings, and parallel (multiple main) tracks. The ratio of track miles to route miles has remained consistent around 1.7-to-1 since the 1920s.

Revenue Per Mile: A simple measure of efficiency, calculated by dividing operating revenue by route miles. In 2014, Class I railroads produced $77.7 billion in revenue and operated 94,372 route miles, yielding an average of $823,337 in revenue per mile. This revenue-per-mile is nearly 60 times the $14,171 produced per mile in 1916. Adjusted for inflation, 2014's revenue-per-mile is still 2.7 times that of a century ago.

Data from Association of American Railroads (AAR) reports, with calculations and analysis by RailServe.com. Revenue figures have not been adjusted for inflation.

See also: State Railroad Statistics, Traffic Volume Statistics, Financial Statistics, and Employment Statistics

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