AAR: All 10 U.S. carload groups netted gains in week No. 50

For the week ending Dec. 13, U.S. railroads reported 312,271 carloads, up 12.1 percent, and 280,337 intermodal units, up 4.5 percent compared with volumes from the same week last year, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Total combined U.S. traffic climbed 8.4 percent to 592,608 units and all 10 carload commodity groups tracked by the AAR posted gains, led by nonmetallic minerals at 28.8 percent, metallic ores and metals at 24.4 percent, petroleum and petroleum products at 23 percent, and grain at 17.1 percent.

Through 2014's first 50 weeks, U.S. railroads logged 14,616,786 carloads, up 3.8 percent, and 13,042,623 intermodal units, up 5.2 percent year over year.

For the week ending Dec. 13, Canadian registered 81,894 carloads, up 11.8 percent, and 59,796 intermodal units, up 10.8 percent compared with the same 2013 period. Mexican railroads’ weekly carloads inched up 0.7 percent to 15,678 units and their intermodal volume rose 5.5 percent to 10,557 units.

Through 50 weeks, 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads handled 19,446,748 carloads, up 3.4 percent, and 16,443,130 intermodal units, up 5.3 percent compared with the same 2013 period.