The number of carloads moved on short line and regional railroads remained steady with a less than 1 percent decrease in year-to-year comparisons. Total carloads were down slightly from 350,139 in March 2015 to 348,816 in March 2016.
Motor vehicles and equipment led commodity gains with a 35 percent increase, followed by waste and scrap materials, up 16 percent and metals and products, up 14 percent. Nonmetallic minerals experienced the most significant decline, down 30 percent, followed by metallic ores, down 24 percent. (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.