The Surface Transportation Board (STB) published weekly service report updates for Class 1 railroads spanning data acquired through the end of Sep ’16. Overall, ethanol and grain transportation speeds finished higher on a YOY basis while weekly held car results were mixed. Ethanol Transportation: • Average train speeds for ethanol transportation finished higher on a YOY basis throughout the final four weeks of September. Oct 1st grain train speeds of 22.4 MPH finished up 3.7% YOY but remained 0.8% 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 6.4% lower than the previous year figures. • Ethanol cars held longer than 120 hours increased to above average seasonal levels, however, finishing 13.6% above the previous year throughout the past four weeks. Grain Transportation: • Average train speeds for grain transportation remained slightly higher on a YOY basis. Oct 1st grain train speeds of 22.6 MPH were 0.3% higher than the historical average grain train speeds and 0.1% higher YOY. • Grain cars held 48-120 hours remained below average seasonal levels throughout the past four weeks, finishing 14.2% lower than the previous year figures. • Grain cars held longer than 120 hours also remained lower on a seasonal basis, finishing 13.1% below the previous year on average throughout the past four weeks. Total Cars Online: • Oct 1st total cars online totaled 1.01 million, up 0.3% from the previous week but remaining 1.6% below last year’s figures. Oct 1st total cars online finished 1.8% above the record low experienced during the week ending May 28th. • Oct 1st total cars online by railway were led by Union Pacific, followed by BNSF, CSX and Norfolk Southern.