Leases

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Leases [Abstract]

Leases

(12) Leases

We are party to contracts where we lease property from others. As a lessee, we primarily lease office and operating facilities, locomotives, freight cars, energy generation facilities and transmission assets. Operating lease right-of-use assets were $5,579 million and lease liabilities were $5,469 million at December 31, 2020. Operating lease right-of-use assets were $5,941 million and lease liabilities were $5,882 million at December 31, 2019. Such amounts were included in other assets and accounts payable, accruals and other liabilities in our Consolidated Balance Sheet. The weighted average term of these leases was approximately 7.3 years at December 31, 2020 and 7.7 years at December 31, 2019. The weighted average discount rate used to measure lease liabilities was approximately 3.6% at December 31, 2020 and 3.8% at December 31, 2019. A summary of our remaining operating lease payments as of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 follows (in millions).

	Year 1		Year 2		Year 3		Year 4		Year 5		Thereafter		Total lease payments		Amount representing interest			Lease liabilities
December 31:
2020	$	1,342	$	1,111	$	905	$	725	$	544	$	1,691	$	6,318	$	(849	)	$	5,469
2019		1,374		1,183		950		764		620		1,988		6,879		(997	)		5,882

Components of operating lease costs for the years ending December 31, 2020 and 2019, by type, are summarized in the following table (in millions). Operating lease expense was $1,649 million in 2018.

	2020			2019
Operating lease cost	$	1,413		$	1,459
Short-term lease cost		145			178
Variable lease cost		228			276
Sublease income		(10	)		(24	)
Total lease cost	$	1,776		$	1,889