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Rail-car orders posted a gain in the second quarter — barely. Orders totaled 11,595 cars, a 4 percent increase compared with first-quarter orders totaling 11,152 units, according to the American Railway Car Institute Committee (ARCI) of the Railway Supply Institute.

However, second-quarter orders tumbled 36 percent compared with the same 2006 period, when orders totaled 18,190 units.

Rail-car deliveries, which totaled 16,143 units, decreased on both a month-over-month and year-over-year basis. Second-quarter deliveries dropped 6 percent compared with the first quarter’s 17,148 units and 17 percent compared with second-quarter 2006’s 19,466 units.

Meanwhile, the rail-car backlog — which has been declining since the end of third-quarter 2006 — eroded a bit more in the second quarter, ARCI said. On July 1, the backlog stood at 73,911 units compared with 79,038 units on April 1, 85,826 units on Dec. 31, 2006, and 88,116 units on Oct. 1, 2006.