(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on September 2, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — North America’s small railroads saw freight traffic for the week ending Aug. 28 rise to the highest level since late April, continuing a volume rebound that began in July.
The RMI RailConnect index – a weekly snapshot of cargo hauls from 342 of the estimated 550 short lines and regional railroads in the U.S. and Canada – said reporting carriers originated 100,000 loads in the latest week, up from 98,556 in the Aug. 21 week.
That is the fastest pace since April 24, when RMI reported 100,521 shipments originated on participating railroads. After that, however, bulk-shipment carload rail traffic for small and large railroads alike hit a downturn that continued through all of May and June before starting to climb again in July.
The RMI traffic rose last week with help from chemicals, coal and grain shipments, plus a category of construction site materials that includes stone, clay and aggregates. That means all four of their largest cargo categories increased together.
Also rising were intermediate metals and metal products from factories, scrap materials used as a low-cost input for recycling into new products – mostly metals – and paper products.
This continues a recent trend seen by large and small carriers alike of recovery in a range of shipments related to the manufacturing sector, as well as rebounds in the more volatile coal and grain loadings.