Construction firms working in the freight rail sector are benefitting from increased investment by U.S. railroad companies over the past decade. But freight infrastructure work is barreling ahead, thanks to a huge influx of capacity upgrade projects in the past 18 months to support oil and gas exploration, along with intermodal traffic increases, say industry experts.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR), an industry trade group, reports that in 2008, U.S. Class I railroads originated 9,500 carloads of crude oil. By 2012, that number jumped to nearly 234,000 carloads. In the first quarter of 2013, 97,135 rail carloads of crude oil were transported, a 166% increase from the same period in 2012.