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U.S. railroads moved more carloads, but fewer intermodal loads in February vs. last year. The roads originated 1.3 million carloads, up 2.7 percent, and 893,951 containers and trailers, down 3.4 percent, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Carloads increased in such sectors as metallic ores (40.1 percent), grain (24.5 percent) and coal (5.7 percent), but decreased in coke (34.6 percent), lumber and wood products (19.3 percent), and crushed stone, sand and gravel (6.9 percent).

"Strong export markets are boosting rail coal and grain movements, while continued weakness in the housing sector is negatively affecting rail shipments of lumber and wood, primary forest products and intermodal," said AAR Vice President John Gray in a prepared statement.

During 2008's first two months, U.S. railroads registered a 1.7 percent increase in carloads to 2.9 million units, but recorded a 3.4 percent decline in intermodal volume at 2 million units compared with totals from the same 2007 period. Total volume climbed 2.8 percent to an estimated 296.1 billion ton-miles.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads had two reasons to like February traffic. Carload rose 4.2 percent to 294,958 units and intermodal volume increased 7.1 percent to 184,513 units compared with February 2007 totals. Through two months, the roads' carloads were up 0.1 percent to 655,078 units and intermodal loads totaling 411,767 stayed ahead of last year's pace at an 8.3 percent clip.

On a combined cumulative-volume basis through nine weeks, 12 reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads originated 3.5 million carloads, up 1.4 percent, and 2.4 million containers and trailers, down 1.5 percent compared with 2007 levels.

For the week ending March 1, U.S. railroads reported 336,805 carloads, up 3.9 percent, and 223,931 intermodal loads, down 5.8 percent vs. 2007 totals; Canadian roads reported 75,921 carloads, up 1.8 percent, and 46,942 intermodal loads, up 8 percent.

Total traffic decreased 1 percent in the East (via CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Corp.) and declined 0.2 percent in the West (via BNSF Railway Co., Kansas City Southern and Union Pacific Railroad) primarily because of continued weakness in forest products and automotive demand, according to Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc.'s weekly "Traffic Talk" newsletter.