The number of carloads moved on short line and regional railroads increased slightly by 1.5 percent in year-to-year comparisons. Total carloads were up from 355,680 in August 2014 to 360,936 in August 2015.
Trailer or container led gains with a 31 percent increase, followed by grain mill products and food and kindred products, up 13 percent and 9 percent, respectively. The most significant declines were observed in metallic ores, down 58 percent, followed by nonmetallic minerals and metals and products, each down 33 percent and 21 percent, respectively. (Click here to download this file as an Excel table).
Railinc publishes this information as a service to the rail industry. The Railinc Short Line and Regional Traffic Index can also be found monthly in Railway Age Magazine. For questions or comments, please contact the Railinc Corporate Communications department.
Notice of Restatement: Due to a technical error, Railinc has restated Short Line Index data for February, March, April and May 2015. Railinc apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused. The data reported above represent the most recent report. You can learn more about this change here.