(The Scranton Times posted the following Associated Press news brief on its website on February 3.)
SCRANTON, Pa. — Lackawanna County’s railroad tracks saw their fifth consecutive year of increased traffic, officials said.
During 2002, a total of 6,418 carloads of freight moved across the county — a 7 percent increase from 2001, said Larry Malski, executive director of the Lackawanna County Railroad Authority.
When the authority launched services on the lines in 1985, just 393 carloads rolled over the tracks. In the past five years, use has jumped 270 percent.
Those statistics are in keeping with national rail trends, Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Warren Flatau said.
“Generally speaking, smaller railroads and carriers have continued to increase over the last several years,” he said. “Despite what’s been happening with the economy, hauling and material transport traffic on our rail lines continues to climb.”