The Condition of American Railroads

Report Outline
Legislation Introduced at Present Sesssion
Present Transportation Rates
Present Condition of Railway Labor
Labor Legislation Pending
Special Focus

Traffic Records Broken

American railroads in 1923 handled more traffic than ever before in their history. The record of 413,562,000,000 net ton miles for Class I railroads (excluding terminal and switching companies) during 1923 was an increase of 22 per cent over the traffic for 1922 (339,285,000,000 ton-miles) and an increase of .7 per cent over the traffic for 1920 (410,306,000,000 ton miles) the previous peak year.

The car loadings for 1923 were likewise the largest ever recorded. Car loadings since 1918 are shown in the accompanying table. Cars were loaded more heavily than ever “before and the average mileage per car per day (28 miles) exceeded that of any year for which such records have been kept.

Decreased Agricultural Loadings

There were large increases in loadings of practically all commodities except agricultural products and animal and livestock products. The tonnage of these products for 1923 as contrasted with that of the peak year, 1918, is shown in the following table.