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RailAmerica Inc. is off to a good start in 2005. Yesterday, the short-line holding company reported its January "same railroad" carloads rose 2.1 percent to 98,520 units compared with January 2004. (Same railroad totals exclude carloads moved by railroads sold or acquired after Jan. 1, 2004.)

Total January carloads increased 7.9 percent to 105,508 units, spurred by traffic generated from the Midland Subdivision, Chicago Fort Wayne & Eastern Railroad and Central Michigan Railroad, which RailAmerica acquired last year.

The company registered double-digit carload increases in the following segments: food products (26.5 percent), chemicals (22.5 percent), agricultural and farm products (20.3 percent), petroleum products (18.2 percent), minerals (14.2 percent), and lumber and forest products (10.7 percent).

RailAmerica owns and operates 44 U.S. and Canadian regionals and short lines totaling about 8,900 track miles.