advertisement

---

Canada's freight and passenger railroads last year generated a record $10.6 billion in combined revenue, a 6.8 percent increase compared with 2005's total and 37.3 percent rise compared with 1996 revenue.

The nation's railroads also recorded their best-ever operating income at $2.4 billion, up 11 percent compared with 2005's total and more than double 1996's total.

The Railway Association of Canada (RAC) provides those 2006 highlights and other data on 58 freight and passenger railroads in the recently released 2007 edition of Railway Trends, the association's annual composite of financial and operating statistics. Available for purchase on RAC's Web site at www.railcan.ca, the publication also offers rolling 10-year data on key performance indicators.

Railway Trends shows Canada's railroads last year operated an average of 775 freight and passenger trains daily, and short lines generated 23.6 percent of all originated carloads.

The publication also states that the number of freight-rail accidents dropped from 1,415 in 2005 to 1,366 in 2006 and number of accidents per million passengers/commuters gradually decreased from 1.4 in 2001 to 1.1 last year.