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During the week ending Aug. 20, 379 regionals and short lines handled 118,921 carloads, up 6.9 percent compared with volume from the same week last year, according to RMI’s RailConnect Index® of Short Line Traffic.

Motor vehicles and equipment loads soared 50.5 percent to 2,737, ores traffic jumped 24.1 percent to 3,323, intermodal loads rose 16.5 percent to 11,223, and metals and products shipments increased 9.9 percent to 10,303. Only three commodity groups registered drops: grain, down 9.4 percent to 11,649; farm and food products, down 0.6 percent to 5,540; and coal, down 0.6 percent to 12,604.

Through 2011’s first 33 weeks, the 379 small railroads handled 3.7 million carloads, up 7.7 percent year over year. Commodity groups posting double-digit gains include motor vehicles and equipment, up 31.6 percent to 73,144; intermodal, up 19.3 percent to 324,444; stone, clay and aggregates, up 11.7 percent to 415,517; and chemicals, up 11.1 percent to 635,560. No groups registered year-over-year declines, according to the index.

Beginning with week No. 31, which ended Aug. 6, RMI updated components of the RailConnect Index to reflect new railroads and carload counts. The index previously was based on traffic data from about 337 regionals and short lines.