The total size of the North American rail equipment fleet was down slightly during the second quarter of 2017. The total equipment count was 2,066,516, compared to 2,070,191 during the first quarter of 2017.
The three largest segments during the quarter were covered hoppers (28 percent), tank cars (21 percent) and gondolas (11 percent).
Four car groups increased from the last quarter, led by EOTs, up 1.5 percent, covered hoppers and miscellaneous equipment, both up 0.7 percent, and locomotives, up 0.5 percent. Declines during the quarter were led by gondolas (1.1 percent), hoppers (1.1 percent) and box cars (0.9 percent).
The total count of equipment in the revenue-earning fleet currently stands at about 1.637 million, down by 0.1 percent from the previous quarter. Covered hoppers led gains at 0.5 percent, while gondolas were down most (0.9 percent).
The revenue-earning fleet is a subset of the North American rail fleet that is largely composed of freight cars that can be used in interchange service and against which an interline waybill can be placed. The revenue-earning fleet of freight cars is made up of six sub-fleets: box cars, covered hoppers, flats, gondolas, open hoppers and tank cars. It excludes locomotives, intermodal trailers and containers, maintenance-of-way equipment and end-of-train devices.
Data Source: Railinc Umler® System. Data represents all equipment units on file, including pre-registered, restricted and scrap units.
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