U.S. railroads' traffic volume up 0.6 percent in week 47

U.S. railroads' total traffic volume rose 0.6 percent to 452,759 carloads and intermodal units during the week ending Nov. 26 compared with traffic logged a year ago, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Total carloads for the week slipped 0.4 percent to 229,866 carloads, while intermodal volume increased 1.6 percent to 222,893 containers and trailers compared with traffic during the same week in 2015.

Five of the 10 carload commodity groups that AAR tracks posted increases during the week. They included grain, up 20.2 percent to 22,438 carloads; metallic ores and metals, up 8.5 percent to 18,206 carloads; and miscellaneous carloads, up 7.8 percent to 7,461 carloads.

Commodity groups that logged decreases included petroleum and petroleum products, down 23.2 percent to 9,150 carloads; motor vehicles and parts, down 15.3 percent to 12,773 carloads; and forest products, down 8.4 percent to 8,511 carloads.

Canadian railroads' carload traffic during the week surged 7.5 percent to 77,955 units, while intermodal volume rose 3.3 percent to 60,401 units. Mexican railroads reported 15,618 carloads for the week, down 6.5 percent compared with the same week last year, and 10,969 intermodal units, down 9 percent.

For the first 47 weeks of 2016 compared with the same period in 2015:
• U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 11,848,889 carloads, down 9.2 percent, and 12,199,820 intermodal units, down 2.6 percent from the same point last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the period is down 6 percent to 24,048,709 carloads and intermodal units.
• Canadian railroads logged cumulative rail traffic volume of 6,191,875 carloads, containers and trailers, down 4.2 percent.
• Mexican railroads posted cumulative volume of 1,265,540 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, down 2.2 percent.
• North American rail volume declined 5.5 percent to 31,506,124 carloads and intermodal units.