Jacksonville, Florida-based RailAmerica, Inc. announced Wednesday that its total freight carloads for the month ended October 31, 2010 were 72,826, up 3.8 percent from 70,159 in October 2009.
The company had increased shipments in October 2010 in six out of twelve commodity groups compared to October 2009. Much of the increase was due to shipments of metallic ores and metals, which increased primarily due to higher shipments in the Northeast and Midwest regions.
The largest declines were in coal and motor vehicles. Coal was down primarily due to lower shipments in the Central region, and motor vehicles were down primarily due to decreased shipments in the Midwest region.