Short Lines Make Steady Traffic Gains

Short line railroads tracked by the RMI RailConnect index hauled more than 90,000 cargo units in the week ending July 25, for the first time in more than a month as carriers saw moderate but steady gains across a range of shipment categories.

RMI said 340 reporting North American short lines carried 90,430 bulk railcar loads and intermodal trailers or containers, the best volume since 91,135 on June 20 even though it was still down 29 percent from the same week in 2008.

For the second straight week, loadings of waste and scrap materials topped 5,000 carloads for the first time since February, while the 15,502 tank cars of chemicals was the most for short lines in the RMI weekly snapshots since March 21.

Both scrap and chemicals are considered indicators of factory demand, so strength in those cargoes is in line with signs that manufacturing is starting to bounce off its recession lows.

Short lines also saw weekly gains in intermodal boxes, paper products, lumber and forest products, metals and related products, ores, grain, other farm and food shipments, petroleum and coke used for metal furnaces.

Source: Railway Age