The total size of the North American rail equipment fleet held steady during fourth quarter 2015. The total equipment count was 2,060,914 in the fourth quarter, compared to 2,056,726 during the third quarter of 2015, resulting in a 0.2 percent increase.
The three largest segments this quarter were covered hoppers (26 percent), tank cars (21 percent), and gondolas (12 percent).
Group increases over the previous quarter were led by tank cars, up 1.6 percent, followed by flat cars, end-of-train devices (EOTs) and covered hoppers, each up about 1 percent. Declines this quarter were led by gondolas, down 1.9 percent, in addition to box cars and miscellaneous, each down about 1 percent.
The total count of equipment in the revenue-earning fleet currently stands at 1.61 million. 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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