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Talk about a tough comparison. Last week, U.S. railroads moved 252,283 containers and trailers — their highest total this year and seventh-highest weekly volume ever, according to the Association of American Railroads. But the total represented a 2 percent decrease compared with volume from the same week in 2006, when U.S. railroads set the current one-week record.

The roads didn’t come anywhere near their record — or even last year’s mark — for carloads during the week, which ended Sept. 15. Originated carloads totaled 338,147 units, a 2.3 percent decrease compared with carloads originated during 2006’s 37th week.

Through 2007’s first 37 weeks, U.S. railroads originated 12 million carloads, down 3.4 percent, and 8.5 million containers and trailers, down 1.9 percent compared with traffic totals from the same period last year. Estimated volume totaled 1.24 trillion ton-miles, representing a 1.9 percent year-over-year decline.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads last week registered a 3.5 percent drop in originated carloads, which totaled 79,210 units. However, the roads’ intermodal volume totaled 50,816 containers and trailers, up 6.3 percent compared with volume from the same week in 2006.

Through 37 weeks, Canadian railroads originated 2.9 million carloads, down 1.1 percent, and 1.7 million containers and trailers, up 2.9 percent compared with last year’s similar cumulative totals.

On a combined cumulative-volume basis through 37 weeks, reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads originated 14.9 million carloads, down 3 percent, and 10.2 million containers and trailers, down 1.2 percent year over year.