Railroad touts record-breaking 2022
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL FILE - A Reading and Northern locomotive is parked on the rail bridge over Main Street in Mahanoy City in 2020.
PORT CLINTON – The Reading and Northern Railroad touted what it called a record-breaking 2022 Monday.
Records for both freight traffic and excursion passenger ridership were broken by the shortline railroad, Pennsylvania’s largest privately owned railroad.
““Our performance in 2022 was amazing. Faced with an unprecedented surge in business, our employees stepped up and handled the additional business perfectly. It was all hands on deck,” railroad CEO Andy Muller, Jr. said
Revenue freight traffic rose over 4,000 carloads, 15.4%, for the carrier, compared to an overall 1.5% decline in North American railroad volume.
“For RBMN, and much of the world, everything changed when Russia invaded Ukraine. As a result of the invasion and resulting western embargo on Russian goods and raw materials, RBMN saw a huge uptick in demand for Pennsylvania anthracite,” the railroad said in Monday’s release. “Russia and the eastern portion of Ukraine were major international suppliers of Anthracite. Without those sources, the world looked to Pennsylvania anthracite, and those producers did a great job of meeting much of that global demand in 2022.”
The railroad’s coal shipments increased by 2,624 carloads, with 40% of that going abroad.
Domestically, the railroad said more electric arc furnace facilities expanded or came online and many steel mills are looking to use anthracite.
“To meet this growing demand, RBMN continued to invest in purchasing additional rail cars and in expanding its rail-truck transfer network,” the railroad said. “With new steel facilities opening in Texas and Ontario, and continued growth in the export market, RBMN is forecasting double digit growth in 2023 as well.”
The railroad also touted the opening of new facilities in the Tunkhannock area in Wyoming County, providing service to the Marcellus Shale gas producers.
On the passenger side, the railroad broke the 250,000 rider mark for the first time in the railroad’s history.
More train trips, equipment, and origin points were added in 2022, the railroad said.
“In 2023, there will be further expansion of RBMN Passenger service as Jim Thorpe trains are now operated year-round,” the railroad said. “Later this year, RBMN will be starting excursion service from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area out of Pittston.”
“Also, of much interest to railfans everywhere, RBMN steam locomotive 2102 will continue to operate in train service,” the railroad added.
This year, the railroad purchased a large portion of the former Kovatch Mobile Equipment (KME) plant in Nesquehoning for $2 Million when the fire truck manufacturer closed. The railroad said the campus is a centralized location along its main line for equipment, parts, and repairs.
The railroad services nine counties across eastern Pennsylvania, including Berks, Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, and Wyoming. The railroad was named Regional Railroad of the Year in 2020 by Railway Age Magazine.
Among its trackage, the Reading and Northern Railroad operates what remained of the rail network in Schuylkill County after the federal Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) and its predecessors abandoned much of the network, including to Shenandoah proper.
In northern Schuylkill, their trackage includes lines through Mahanoy City, Gilberton, Girardville, and Ashland, as well as to Lost Creek.
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