Total carloads for February 2006 were 103,249, down 2.8% from 106,256 in February 2005. The acquisition of the Alcoa railroads and the Fremont line in Michigan net of the impact of the sale of the San Luis and Rio Grande Railroad and the three Alberta properties accounted for a decrease of 1,772 of the carloads. On a "same railroad" basis, February 2006 carloads decreased 1.2% to 100,367, from 101,602 in February 2005. Nine out of fourteen commodity groups had decreased shipments in February 2006. The 1,235 carload decrease was driven primarily by lower shipments of Chemicals, Paper Products and Intermodal.
For the two months ended February 28, 2006, total carloads increased 2.0% to 216,078 from 211,763 in 2005. On a "same railroad" basis for the same period, carloads were 207,537 up 2.3% from 202,846 in 2005. "Same railroad" totals exclude carloads associated with railroads, or portions of railroads, sold or acquired by the Company after January 1, 2005.
Historically, the Company has found that carload information may be indicative of freight revenue on its railroads, but may not be indicative of total revenue, operating expenses, operating income or net income. Attached is a comparison of North America carloads by commodity group for the periods ended February 28, 2006 and 2005.
