ELFA: Rail equipment financing slips in 2016

New business volume grew 2.5 percent in the equipment finance industry last year, with railroad equipment representing 3 percent of equipment financing new business volume, according to the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association's (ELFA) annual survey.

The rail industry's 3 percent of volume is down from 3.5 percent in 2015, ELFA officials announced this week after releasing results from the association's 2017 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity.

As an end-user of equipment finance, the railroad industry represented 0.2 percent of new business volume reported by ELFA member companies in 2016, down from 0.6 percent in 2015.

The rise in total new equipment business volume marked the seventh consecutive year that businesses increased their spending on capital equipment, ELFA officials said.