The Surface Transportation Board (STB) published weekly service report updates for Class 1 railroads spanning data acquired through the end of Aug ’16. Overall, grain transportation speeds remained higher on a YOY basis while weekly held cars finished below average seasonal levels, however ethanol transportation speeds fell below previous year levels while weekly held car figures were mixed. Ethanol Transportation: • Average train speeds for ethanol transportation finished lower on a YOY basis for the first times on record during August and early September. Sep 3rd grain train speeds of 22.3 MPH finished down 3.9% YOY and 1.3% below historical average grain train speeds. • Ethanol cars held 48-120 hours remained below average seasonal levels throughout much of the past four weeks, finishing 10.2% lower than the previous year figures. • Ethanol cars held longer than 120 hours increased to above average seasonal levels, however, finishing 27.7% above the previous year throughout the past four weeks. Grain Transportation: • Average train speeds for grain transportation continued to remain higher on a YOY basis. Sep 3rd grain train speeds of 23.0 MPH were 2.1% higher than the historical average grain train speeds and 3.0% higher YOY. • Grain cars held 48-120 hours remained below average seasonal levels throughout the past four weeks, finishing 19.3% lower than the previous year figures. • Grain cars held longer than 120 hours also remained lower on a seasonal basis, finishing 11.7% below the previous year on average throughout the past four weeks. Total Cars Online: • Sep 3rd total cars online totaled 1.01 million, up 0.4% from the previous week but remaining 2.0% below last year’s figures. Sep 3rd total cars online finished 1.8% above the record low experienced during the week ending May 28th. • Sep 3rd total cars online by railway were led by Union Pacific, followed by BNSF, CSX and Norfolk Southern.