The North American rail equipment fleet increased its total size during the first quarter of 2023. The total equipment count was 2,099,586, for a change of 0.4 percent.
The four largest segments during the quarter were Covered Hoppers (29 percent), Tank Cars (22 percent) and Gondolas and Intermodal (10 percent).
Only six car groups increased from the last quarter, led by Gondolas, up 1.0 percent. Box Cars, Intermodal and Misc. each increased by 0.7 percent. EOTs led declines, down 2.0 percent, followed by Locomotives, down 0.9 percent.
The total count of equipment in the revenue-earning fleet currently stands at about 1.63 million, up by 0.2 percent from the previous quarter. Open Hoppers declined by 0.3 percent, and Tanks saw a slight decrease.
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.
Data Source: Railinc Umler® System. Data represents all equipment units on files, including pre-registered, restricted and scrap units.
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