Data and methodology

Fleet roster

The base is the National Transit Database Revenue Vehicle Inventory for every rail mode (commuter, hybrid, heavy, light, streetcar, monorail/AGT, cable car, inclined plane). We map raw model strings to builders and model families, add Amtrak, Brightline, state-supported services, airport people movers and Canadian systems from agency sources, and grade every record:

Grade	Meaning
A	Agency-reported (NTD or agency document)
B	Trade press or manufacturer release
C	Secondary source
D	Inferred

Duty cycle

Annual miles and hours per car come from the agency's NTD service data, allocated across its fleets by class. Where an agency reports average lifetime miles, cumulative mileage is reported directly. These are estimates for planning, not odometer readings.

Costs

Vehicle maintenance and operating costs are NTD operator/mode totals allocated to each fleet by class-weighted car-miles, in constant dollars. The benchmark is the median across peer operators of the same class. Treat per-fleet costs as allocations.

Overhaul pipeline

Midlife overhaul timing uses build year, last rebuild and industry norms (around 20 years for most passenger cars, adjusted for utilization); end of useful life uses FTA useful life benchmarks; engine overhauls use cited OEM or agency intervals.

Bids and awards

Notices come from agency portals, procurement platforms and open data. Each is scored by keyword rules, then reviewed by an AI model for relevance to rail vehicles (0-100), category and subsystems. Awards record the winner, amount and bidders where published.

For research and planning purposes only. Not financial, legal or engineering advice.