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Last month, RailAmerica Inc.’s carloads totaled 73,136 units, up 10.7 percent compared with April 2009 traffic.

The company, which owns 40 U.S. and Canadian regionals and short lines, increased volume in eight of 12 commodity groups. The traffic gain was driven by higher demand for waste and scrap materials, chemicals, and metallic ores and metals shipments, according to RailAmerica.

“Waste and scrap materials carloads increased primarily due to higher shipments in the Northeast and Southeast regions, [while] chemical carloads increased across all regions,” RailAmerica officials said in a prepared statement.

However, traffic declined in the coal, pulp/paper and allied products groups. Coal moves primarily fell in the central U.S., while pulp/paper and allied products volumes predominantly declined in the Southeast.

Meanwhile, Genesee & Wyoming Inc. reported April carloads totaling 72,023 units, up 16.1 percent compared with April 2009 volume.

The company — which owns 62 regionals and short lines in the United States, Canada, Australia and Netherlands — attributes the gain to increased metals traffic in the New York/Ohio/Pennsylvania and Southern regions, and coal, coke and ores traffic in the New York/Ohio/Pennsylvania Region.