AAR: Carloads down, intermodal units up last week

Total U.S. rail traffic dipped slightly during the week ending July 20, with railroads carrying 531,357 carloads and intermodal units, down 0.3 percent compared with the same week last year, according to the Association of American Railroads.

Railroads originated 277,933 carloads, down 3 percent, and 253,424 intermodal units, up 2.8 percent.

Five of 10 carload commodity groups posted increases compared with the totals from the same 2012 week, led by petroleum and petroleum products, which skyrocketed 28 percent to 13,361 carloads. Meanwhile, grain carloads declined 9.1 percent to 16,090.

For the week ending July 20, Canadian railroads reported 74,216 carloads, down 3.2 percent, and 56,104 intermodal units, up 5.5 percent year over year. Mexican railroads reported 16,252 carloads for the week, up 5.3 percent, and 10,960 intermodal units, up 5 percent.

Through 2013's first 29 weeks, 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads handled 10,718,714 carloads, down 0.5 percent, and 8,777,741 trailers and containers, up 3.5 percent compared with the same 2012 period.