WASHINGTON — Thirty-year-high mortgage rates and a double-digit decrease in U.S. housing starts from a year ago has only curbed Class I railroads’ lumber business by about 3,300 carloads, down just 1%, compared to July 2023. Now proposed Federal interest rate cuts could rejuvenate residential housing starts and give railroads’ lumber business a jolt. U.S. Class I railroads, including the U.S. rail traffic of Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, have moved more than 244,000 carloads of lumber so far this year, managing to keep the business mostly flat in the past year despite soaring mortgage rates that peaked at 7.7% for a 30-year fixed mortgage in October 2023. …With inflation cooling and the Fed expected to decrease interest rates at least once in 2024. …But falling interest rates isn’t a sure bet that railroads will start hauling more center-beams. Trucking is the perpetual thorn in the side for railroads.