(The Associated Press circulated the following on February 10, 2009.)
Freight railroad operator Genesee & Wyoming Inc. said Tuesday its January traffic from continuing operations rose 12 percent, mainly as a result of carloads shipped by railroads the company acquired over the past year.
Genesee & Wyoming said it shipped a total of 72,015 carloads in January, up 12 percent from 64,164 in the same month last year. The recent month’s total included a combined 13,887 carloads from railroads acquired in the past 12 months.
Same-railroad traffic – or carloads shipped by railroads owned for at least a year – fell by 6,036 carloads, or 9.4 percent, from January 2008 levels.
Genesee & Wyoming said the drop was mainly a result of declines in pulp & paper, metals and lumber & forest products traffic. Those drops were partially offset by a 1,901 carload increase in farm & food products traffic, the company said.