OREANDA-NEWS. Western railroad BNSF said its coal traffic increased by about 3pc in the first six months of this year on higher demand, while it had slight declines in industrial and consumer products and agricultural products gained.

BNSF moved 1.15mn carloads of coal compared with 1.11mn in the first six months of last year. The increased was "primarily" due to higher demand, the Berkshire Hathaway-owned company said. The figures came after the company registered a 6pc gain in first quarter coal cars moved to 600,000 compared with 533,000 cars in the first quarter of 2014.

The year-to-year gains reflected service problems BNSF had last year that led to complaints from western coal shippers to the Surface Transportation Board. The agency eventually held public hearings in 2014 on service issues that plagued railroads after a late grain harvest and surging crude-by-rail thwarted car movements. Flooding affected train movements for several weeks in the west this year.

BNSF's coal revenue/car fell to $2,086 from $2,193 in the year-ago period.

Total cars of all commodities moved in first half of this year by BNSF were 5.03mn, up slightly from the 5.02mn moved in the first half of 2014.

Consumer products volume fell slightly in the first six months, to 2.46mn carloads from 2.48mn cars in the first six months of last year.

Industrial products fell by about 2pc to 925,000 cars in the six months, while agricultural products gained about 6pc to 507,000 carloads. The declines reflect falling crude prices that have cut shipments of that commodity, while agricultural products volumes increased due to increased domestic grain shipments and exports from the Gulf of Mexico.