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RailAmerica Inc. subsidiary railroads handled 74,414 carloads in March, down 3 percent compared with March 2011. On a "same railroad" basis, carloads declined 3.9 percent.
    
Only four of 12 commodity groups posted gains: motor vehicles (75.5 percent), other traffic (12 percent), metallic ores and metals (10.4 percent), and forest products (9.6 percent). Non-metallic minerals and products volume fell 17.2 percent, chemical volumes tumbled 10.1 percent, waste and scrap materials traffic dipped 7.8 percent, and petroleum traffic decreased 7.6 percent.

In the first quarter, carloads increased 3.2 percent to 215,741 and same-railroad carloads rose 2.4 percent to 214,081 compared with first-quarter 2011 volumes.

RailAmerica owns 44 regionals and short lines operating in 28 states and three Canadian provinces. The company recently closed a transaction to acquire a 70 percent interest in the Wellsboro and Corning Railroad and Industrial Waste Group from the Myles Group for about $18 million.