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U.S. railroads have broken their freight volume record for the ninth-straight year — and there’s still one week’s worth of traffic left to tally.

Through 51 weeks, the railroads’ volume totaled 1.71 trillion ton-miles, besting the previous record of 1.69 trillion ton-miles set in 2005 and increasing 2.6 percent on a year-over-year basis, according to Association of American Railroads data.

During the same period, the roads’ carloads totaled 17.1 million units, up 1.4 percent, and intermodal volume totaled 12.1 million units, up 5.2 percent compared with similar 2005 data.

Through 51 weeks, Canadian railroads originated 3.8 million carloads, down 1.8 percent, and 2.3 million trailers and containers, up 5.1 percent compared with the same 2005 period.

On a combined cumulative-volume basis through 51 weeks, 13 reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads boosted carloads 0.8 percent to 20.1 million units and increased intermodal loads 5.2 percent to 14.4 million units compared with last year.

Meanwhile, Kansas City Southern de México S.A. de C.V.’s total carloads dropped 2.5 percent to 582,592 units and total intermodal loads rose 0.5 percent to 210,351 units through 51 weeks.