North American rail traffic gains continued in May's third week

For the week ending May 24, U.S. railroads registered 300,936 carloads, up 6.8 percent, and 269,444 intermodal units, up 8.6 percent compared with volumes from the same week last year, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Total combined U.S. traffic rose 7.6 percent to 570,380 units and nine of 10 carload commodity groups posted gains, led by grain at 24.4 percent, nonmetallic minerals/products at 12.7 percent and metallic ores/metals at 10.2 percent.

BNSF Railway Co.'s carloads (including intermodal) for the week ending May 24 totaled 197,098, up 4.5 percent year over year. The Class I recently registered 206,000 total weekly carloads — more than any other railroad has ever registered — and has surpassed 200,000 units in a week six times already in 2014, BNSF President and Chief Executive Officer Carl Ice said in a Dallas Business Journal article. The railroad is on pace to shatter its traffic record set in 2013, he said.

Through 2014's first 21 weeks, total U.S. carloads increased 2.9 percent to 5,981,006 units and total U.S. intermodal volume rose 5.6 percent to 5,322,963 units compared with the same 2013 period, according to AAR data.

For the week ending May 24, Canadian railroads reported 85,802 carloads, up 11.9 percent, and 58,761 intermodal units, up 9.3 percent year over year. Mexican railroads' weekly carloads crept up 0.7 percent to 16,643 and their intermodal volume climbed 6.3 percent to 11,047 units.

Through 21 weeks, 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads handled 7,905,684 carloads, up 1.6 percent, and 6,676,576 containers and trailers, up 5.5 percent versus the same 2013 period.