(The Associated Press circulated the following on May 13.)
GREENWICH, Conn. — Regional freight railroad operator Genesee & Wyoming Inc. said Tuesday traffic rose 2 percent in April, mostly due to higher coal volume in Illinois.
Genesee & Wyoming total traffic rose to 67,082 carloads from 65,559 carloads a year earlier.
Shipments of coal, the rail’s largest segment, increased 15 percent to 14,967 carloads in April. The company attributed the increase to higher shipments in its Illinois region, where year-ago volume was hurt by power outages.
Farm and food product carloads rose 24 percent to 6,950 during the month, driven by shipments in Australia.
Shipments of lumber and forest products fell 17 percent because of fewer carloads in Oregon.
Excluding haulage traffic on Genesee & Wyoming’s subsidiary Meridian & Bigbee Railroad, traffic increased 5 percent.
Haulage traffic was discontinued late last year on the line, which was handling haulage traffic in the Gulf Coast region since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.