Crude oil joins rail industry staples as key revenue producers

New York

AMERICAN railroads generated almost as much money last year hauling crude oil and sand, largely used in hydraulic fracturing, as they did moving industry staples like field crops and motor vehicles, according to a Reuters analysis of newly released federal data.

The previously unreported company data submitted to the US Department of Transportation provides the latest piece of evidence of the blossoming marriage between the energy and rail industries, forged on the …