Short Line Traffic Strengthens

Small North American railroads saw their freight traffic rise in the week ending Aug. 15, with some cargoes pushing to the strongest levels since last winter.

Back then, volumes were still declining toward springtime and early summer lows, but now a range of cargoes are showing persistent strength. However, all cargoes are not rising together, a situation consistent with a freight industry in a mild recovery.

RMI’s RailConnect weekly survey showed 340 short lines hauling 92,313 loads of all types in the Aug. 15 week, up from 91,208 a week earlier though down slightly from 92,467 RMI reported for Aug. 1.

The single largest category for the small carriers remains chemical tank car loadings, which at 15,953 for the latest week were the strongest since Feb. 28.

Short line originations of 13,597 hopper cars of grain were among the year’s higher numbers since the end of February. Lumber and forest product shipments at 3,935 carloads were the best since Feb. 7 in the RMI reports.

Short lines do not load many automobiles and equipment cargoes, but when they hauled 1,279 railcar loads of them in the Aug. 15 week that was the strongest since March 21.

It was also in line with other reports that auto and equipment manufacturing is steadily coming off its lows, and benefiting a wide range of freight carriers. For the first 32 weeks those vehicle/equipment loadings are still down 52 percent on RMI-tracked short lines, but the latest total was down just 19 percent from the same week last year.

Short lines are also not major players in the intermodal market, and have lost about half their box business this year after declines in 2008. However, their latest volume of 6,551 intermodal units was the strongest in two months, in line with reports of strength in the domestic box business.

See also “Intermodal Takes Share from Trucking."

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.