Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad broke carload record in 2018

The Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA) announced the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad Co. Inc. registered record carloads in 2018, hitting a high-water mark for the second straight year.

The authority's designated common-carrier rail operator logged 9,453 carloads, up 10 percent compared with 2017's 8,572 carloads, which had stood as the all-time volume record in PNRRA's 37-year history.

"Rail-freight carloadings are a national barometer and leading indicator of economic and industrial growth in the United States, and these all-time records indicate how strong the rail-freight renaissance is continuing in northeastern Pennsylvania," said PNRRA President Larry Malski in a press release.

Because of the rapid carload growth, the railroad recently obtained a $686,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to rebuild another track in Green Ridge Yard in Scranton.

"These additional yard tracks prove the old adage that history is repeating itself in northeastern Pennsylvania since these yard tracks were torn up by the previous owner over 40 years ago and now with the rail-freight industry growing again here, the need is there for more track capacity," said Malski.

Owned by Genesee Valley Transportation, the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad operates 88 miles of track in Pennsylvania's Lackawanna, Monroe, Northampton and Wayne counties, and interchanges with Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern Railway.