September 18, 2025

The Role of Forest Products in Railroad Revenue

Key Points

Railroads heavily rely on forest products for revenue, and that dependency impacts train cargo capacity and profitability.
The economic health of railroads in wooded regions fluctuates with the harvest and restoration of timber, affecting their revenues.
Cross ties, a key product from forests, serve as an essential revenue source for railroads alongside other timber products.
Second-growth forests can help revitalize forest product transport tonnage and contribute to railroad profit recovery.

Abstract

Abstract The author discusses the interdependence between the railroads and the forest industries, the railroads looking to the forest for revenue-producing tonnage and the forest industries upon the railroads for markets for cross ties and other products. He also shows how the prosperity of the railroads in forested sections rises and falls with exploitation and depletion of timber tributary to their lines, and how second-growth in some cases has been the means of reviving forest products tonnage.

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Cite This Study

Stephen Young (Tue,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/68d4765531b076d99fa6e8e0 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/jof/30.3.318