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Last month, Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (GWI) subsidiary railroads handled 84,999 carloads, up 13.4 percent compared with June 2010 volume. Excluding 6,896 carloads from FreightLink, which GWI acquired in December 2010, same-railroad traffic in June increased 4.2 percent.

The gain was driven by a 2,101-unit rise in coal and coke traffic, primarily in the Illinois Region, and a 1,577-unit climb in “other” traffic mostly due to increased overhead coal shipments in the New York/Ohio/Pennsylvania Region, GWI officials said in a prepared statement. The increases partially offset a 1,695-unit drop in metals traffic, primarily in the New York/Ohio/Pennsylvania Region

Second-quarter carloads totaled 249,508, up 12.8 percent year over year. Same-railroad carloads rose 3.7 percent. The company registered increases of 3,515 coal and coke units, 2,685 farm/food product carloads and 2,016 minerals/stone units.

GWI owns 63 regionals and short lines in the United States, Canada, Australia, Netherlands and Belgium.

Meanwhile, RailAmerica Inc. reported June carloads totaling 70,238, down 4.4 percent compared with June 2010. On a same-railroad basis, excluding traffic from three recently acquired railroads in Alabama, carloads declined 5.3 percent.

Only six of 12 commodity groups posted gains. The holding company — which owns 43 regionals and short lines in the United States and Canada — registered fewer coal, non-metallic minerals/products and petroleum carloads.

In the second quarter, RailAmerica’s total carloads declined 2.8 percent to 212,095 units compared with the same 2010 period.

“Second-quarter carloads came in below our target mainly due to lower coal shipments, which were impacted by sourcing shifts in the Illinois Basin, reduced demand across several utilities and flooding,” said RailAmerica Chief Commercial Officer Charles Patterson in a prepared statement. “Despite lower carloads, we achieved double-digit total revenue growth for the second quarter due to favorable pricing, as well as continued strength in non-freight revenue.”