Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad reports record carloads in 2017

The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad Co. Inc. (DL) last year logged a record 8,572 revenue carloads over the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority's regional-rail system, the authority reported yesterday.

The number surpasses the previous record of 8,048 cars handled in 2015 and is indicative of economic growth among the 20-plus industries served by the DL in northeastern Pennsylvania, said Larry Malski, authority president, in a press release.

The number of carloads in 2017 represented a 31 percent increase over 2016, he added.

Also last year, the DL added two new customers requiring rail service: Scranton Transload and Northwoods Paper. The regional railroad also handled more than 100 special high-and-wide carloads of components for the new Invenergy Jessup Power Plant.

Major commodities hauled by the DL include wheat and flour, sand, plastic, lumber, propane and consumer products.

The DL has applied for a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation grant to re-lay portions of double track along the Carbondale Line because of "rapidly increasing" carloads on that line, Malski said.

"Since 1982 when the authority was formed to save the approximately 100 miles of rail lines that the private sector railroad were abandoning and liquidating, a true rail renaissance has transpired in northeastern Pennsylvania with thousands of jobs saved and created by the many industries that need freight-rail service to stay competitive," said Malski.