AAR: U.S. traffic ticked up in year's third week

For the week ending Jan. 24, U.S. railroads logged 294,738 carloads, up 5 percent, and 253,317 intermodal loads, up 3 percent compared with volumes from the same week in 2014, according to the Association of American Railroads.

Total U.S. weekly traffic grew 4.1 percent to 548,055 units and nine of 10 carload commodity groups posted gains, led by nonmetallic minerals at 22.2 percent and coal at 3.8 percent.

Through 2015’s first full three weeks, U.S. railroads handled 862,274 carloads, up 4.1 percent, and 755,157 intermodal units, up 0.8 percent year over year.

For the week ending Jan. 24, Canadian railroads reported 79,867 carloads, up 8.7 percent, and 59,673 intermodal units, up 19.1 percent, while Mexican railroads reported 16,802 carloads, down 0.5 percent, and 11,446 intermodal units, up 5.8 percent year over year. Through three weeks, Canadian railroads’ total traffic climbed 10.2 percent to 408,457 units and Mexican railroads’ volume ratcheted up 1.2 percent to 80,286 units.

In North America through three weeks, 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads handled 391,407 carloads, up 5.5 percent, and 324,436 intermodal units, up 5.7 percent compared with the same 2014 period.