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What's been a roller-coaster of a year for crosstie purchases stayed true to form in May. After peaking in March and dropping in April, purchases rebounded again in May, increasing 13 percent vs. the previous month's total to 2.2 million units, according to the Railway Tie Association's (RTA) monthly crosstie market report.

"The pattern is unsteady, but the overall level of purchases is quite strong," the report states.

However, tie production tumbled in May to 1.7 million units, falling 5 percent compared with April's total. The tie inventory declined from 15.8 million units in April to 15.3 million units in May.

During 2008's first five months, tie purchases reached 10.4 million units, up 17 percent, and production totaled 8.8 million units, up 6 percent compared with totals from the same 2007 period.

Twelve-month rolling data shows purchases at 21.8 million units and production at 21 million units.

"Although production has been slowing, purchases are growing at a respectable 5.4 percent," RTA officials said in the report.

Meanwhile, tie inventories dropped by 800,000 units from May 2007 to May 2008, lowering the inventory-to-sales ratio from 0.78 to 0.70 during the period.