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U.S. railroads capped off 2009 with a slightly disappointing weekly traffic ledger, although their intermodal volume continued to rebound slightly. During the week ending Jan. 2, which included New Year’s Day, they originated 227,327 carloads, down 1.5 percent, and 149,128 intermodal loads, up 1.8 percent compared with totals from the same week in 2008, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

For the year, U.S. railroads originated 13.8 million carloads, down 16.1 percent, and 9.9 million containers and trailers — the lowest volume since 2003 — down 14.1 percent vs. 2008 totals. Ton-miles fell 15.1 percent to an estimated 1.49 trillion.

During the fourth quarter, U.S. freight demand continued to “modestly strengthen” because of inventory re-stocking and last minute holiday-related traffic surges, according to a transportation and logistics report issued by Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc. yesterday. However, the uptick’s sustainability “remains in doubt” as the “shape of the economic recovery remains uncertain,” the report states.

Meanwhile, for the week ending Jan. 2, Canadian railroads reported 56,608 carloads, up 16.9 percent, and 31,466 intermodal loads, up 7.4 percent year over year. However, their full-year carloads dropped 17.7 percent to 3.2 million units and total intermodal volume declined 14 percent to 2.1 million units.

Mexican railroads’ weekly carloads rose 17.1 percent to 7,907 units and intermodal volume jumped 23.3 percent to 3,702 units. For the year, their carloads decreased 9.3 percent to 601,610 units and intermodal volume fell 12.5 percent to 288,076 units.

For more AAR data on North American railroads' traffic for the week ending Jan. 2 and for all of 2009, follow this link.