Genesee & Wyoming Sept. Traffic Falls 2 Percent

GREENWICH, Conn. (AP) — Regional freight railroad operator Genesee & Wyoming Inc. said Tuesday that September traffic fell about 2 percent as shipments of minerals and stone, pulp and paper, lumber and forest products and other materials declined.

Genesee & Wyoming said it moved 63,607 carloads, a decrease of 1,250 carloads, or 1.9 percent, compared with September 2008. Traffic in the third quarter was 197,087 carloads, a decrease of 4,457 carloads, or 2.2 percent, compared with the third quarter of 2008.

The decline in traffic would have been steeper had it not been for railroad acquisitions by Genesee & Wyoming in the last year. Newly acquired railroads shipped 10,346 carloads in September while Genesee & Wyoming's same-railroad traffic decreased by 11,596 carloads, or 17.9 percent, in September compared with the same month last year.