Another week, another traffic decline for U.S. railroads

U.S. rail traffic continued to slip in the year’s seventh week. For the week ending Feb. 18, the roads reported 466,932 carloads and intermodal units, down 6.5% year over year, according to Association of American Railroads data.

Carloads totaled 229,227, a 3.9% drop, and intermodal volume totaled 237,705 containers and trailers, an 8.8% decline.

Only four of the 10 carload commodity groups tracked by the AAR weekly posted a gain: petroleum and petroleum products, up 14.9%; motor vehicles and parts, up 11.4%; and farm products (excluding grain) and food, up 5.8%; and metallic ores and metals, up 1.4%.

Commodity groups that posted decreases included miscellaneous carloads, down 15.3%; grain, down 12.5%; forest products, down 11.1%; coal, down 8.5%; and chemicals, down 3.9%.

Through 2023’s first seven weeks, U.S. railroads handled 1,603,005 carloads, up 0.3% percent, and 1,631,109 intermodal units, down 7.8% compared with totals from the same 2022 period.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads for the week ending Feb. 18 reported 82,527 carloads, up 11.1%, and 59,995 intermodal units, down 6.9%. Mexican railroads reported 24,018 carloads, up 10.2%, and 15,384 intermodal units, down 5.8%.

On a cumulative basis through seven weeks, Canadian railroads’ traffic rose 4.7% to 976,106 units and Mexican railroads’ traffic dropped 3.2% to 251,054 units.

North American rail volume through seven weeks totaled 4,461,274 carloads and intermodal units, down 2.2% compared with the same 2022 period.