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The Ohio Central Railroad System (OCRS) had a banner 2006, surpassing the 100,000-carload mark for the first time and registering a 20 percent year-over-year traffic increase. The short-line holding company had an even better 2007.

Although OCRS hadn't yet tabulated last year's traffic as of early January, the company expected carload growth to exceed 2006's 20 percent, according to the inaugural issue of OCRS' quarterly newsletter "Ohio Central Family Ties" released earlier this month.

"It's no secret that our business is very strong witness to the many new trains, cars handled and new customer start-ups across the system in the last year," said OCRS Vice President-Commercial Marty Pohlod in the newsletter. "There are segments of our business experiencing decline, largely attributable to slowness in the home building industry, [and] some railroads' customers are experiencing significant market and/or business model changes that negatively impact carloads. This is an ever-present dynamic that requires continuous new business development while working hard to retain existing traffic."

OCRS owns and operates the Aliquippa & Ohio River Railroad, Columbus & Ohio River Rail Road Co., Mahoning Valley Railway Co., Ohio Central Railroad Inc., Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad Co., Ohio Southern Railroad Inc., Pittsburgh & Ohio Central Railroad Co., Youngstown & Austintown Railroad Inc., Warren & Trumbull Railroad Co. and Youngstown Belt Railroad Co.