What content is in the Rail Update?
An overview of the content found in FTR's Rail Update service.
The Rail Update is a monthly FTR Intelligence report covering all commodity groups in the rail carload sector, including car loadings, service levels, intermodal trends, and North American freight demand data. This concise monthly publication gives you the critical information you need to stay ahead of developments in the rail industry.
The Rail Update report is organized into the following sections:
Report | skip to Database
Page 1 - Executive Overview
A high-level overview of the metrics that you and your team need to know. Utilization, car loadings, service levels, and the rail carload rates that will impact your ability to find cars in the market.
Pages 2-5 - Carload Overview
A high-level overview of the overall carload situation in the market. Presented in a graphical format making it easy for you to pick up on trends as well as what to expect in future quarters with our forecasted expectations built-in. Along with the graphical output, the text bullet points will help paint the picture of what topics are moving the market over the course of the last month.
Page 6 - Intermodal Overview
Intermodal environment overview gives you a high-level view of what is going on in the world of intermodal carriers and where the market is headed.
Page 7 - Carload Details
A granular look at the carload data giving you precise expectations (seasonally adjusted) of where FTR expects the market to move to by sector in the upcoming months.
Page 8 - Service Metrics
Service metric data provides a quick view of network fluidity and where to expect congestion or disruption in the marketplace.
Pages 9-11 - Economic Data
The monthly economic data that drives the North American freight demand. Consider this information almost like having an economist added to your staff without adding the headcount.
Database | back to Report
Access to the Rail Update Database is provided for Premium subscribers. The database is provided in Excel format and includes the underlying data used to generate the graphs in the report, with history back to 1991 (updated monthly). For information on upgrading to a Premium subscription, contact your FTR account representative.