Coal railcar loadings “bottomed out” in February at just more than 100,000 carloads, the agency’s Today in Energy said, and have rebounded considerably since. Year-on-year, railcar loadings have shown a 0.5% increase, the report added, with severe cold having ebbed alongside rail service improvements.
Power plant supplies, said the survey, fell 24% between Q4 2013 and Q1 2014 — their lowest level since Q1 2006. The reduction, the EIA said, stemmed from colder-than-normal weather with nationwide net electricity generation 5.3% higher this winter than last winter. Coal generated 59% of the increase, up by 40,000 gigawatt hours — or 8% — year-on-year.
