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In August, U.S. railroads originated 1,461,680 carloads, down 1.4 percent, and 1,230,992 containers and trailers, up 4.3 percent compared with August 2011 volumes, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Weekly intermodal volume averaged 246,198 units in the month — the second-highest average for any August on record, AAR officials said in a traffic summary.
 
Commodity groups that posted gains in August included petroleum and petroleum products, up 49 percent; motor vehicles and parts, up 13 percent; and crushed stone, sand and gravel, up 7.3 percent. Metallic ores volume fell 18.7 percent, waste and nonferrous scrap carloads dropped 15 percent, and coal traffic declined 7.3 percent. Carloads excluding coal rose 3.3 percent, and carloads excluding coal and grain increased 3.5 percent.

“U.S rail traffic in August was pretty much same song, different verse. Weakness in coal carloadings was largely but not entirely offset by increases in carloads of petroleum and petroleum products, autos, lumber and several other commodities, with intermodal showing continued strength,” said AAR Senior Vice President John Gray.
 
The AAR also reported that for the week ending Sept. 1, U.S. railroads originated 292,732 carloads, down 3.4 percent, and 249,113 containers and trailers, up 6.5 percent compared with volumes from the same week last year.

In the year’s 35th week, continued solid growth in chemical and automotive traffic was outpaced by continued weakness in coal and agricultural products volume, said Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. analysts in their weekly “Rail Flash” report.

“The severe drought across the Midwest continues to weigh on upcoming harvest expectations,” they said. “Third-quarter ag volumes are down 2 percent year over year and will continue to face headwinds from the drought through the second half of 2012 and first half of 2013, though both CSX and NS noted corn imports as a potential partial offset.”
 
For the week ending Sept. 1, Canadian railroads reported 79,510 carloads, up 0.1 percent, and 54,839 containers and trailers, up 3.9 percent year over year. Mexican railroads’ weekly carloads increased 2.3 percent to 14,722 units and intermodal volume climbed 12.6 percent to 11,230 units.
 
Through 2012’s first 35 weeks, 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads originated 13,073,741 carloads, down 1.3 percent, and 10,354,596 containers and trailers, up 4.7 percent compared with volumes from the same 2011 period.