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In April, RailAmerica Inc. subsidiary railroads handled 72,081 carloads, down 2.4 percent compared with April 2010 volume.

Only four of 12 commodity groups registered gains, with metallic ores and metals (up 31.9 percent), non-metallic minerals and products (up 10.6 percent), and agricultural products (up 5.1 percent) posting the largest year-over-year increases. Much of the decline is due to reduced shipments of coal (down 9 percent), chemicals (down 8.4 percent) and petroleum (down 17.2 percent), according to RailAmerica. In addition, motor vehicle carloads plunged 24.8 percent.

Meanwhile, traffic at several of RailAmerica’s railroads is being hampered by recent floods in the Midwest and other areas. The Missouri Northern Arkansas Railroad (MNA) has experienced several washouts and a derailment, resulting in infrastructure repairs costing about $1 million, RailAmerica officials said in a prepared statement.

“The flooding has negatively impacted volumes in April and [so far] in May at the MNA and other railroads,” they said. “Considering the weather issues, the company now expects second-quarter carloads to be near or slightly below second-quarter 2010.”

RailAmerica owns 43 regionals and short lines operating in 27 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces.