U.S. railroads haul more petroleum, chemicals in Week 41

The decline in U.S. freight-rail traffic continued during the week ending Oct. 12, with railroads reporting increases in just two of 10 commodity categories tracked weekly by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

U.S. railroads posted 510,820 carloads and intermodal units for the week, down 7 percent compared with the same week in 2018. The number of U.S. roads' carloads dropped 7.5 percent to 243,807 units, while the number of intermodal containers and trailers fell 6.6 percent to 267,013, according to AAR data.

The two commodity groups that logged increases were petroleum and petroleum products, up 912 carloads to 12,717; and chemicals, up 439 carloads to 30,855.

Commodity groups that posted decreases included coal, down 12,263 carloads to 73,902; metallic ores and metals, down 3,402 carloads, to 19,720; and motor vehicles and parts, down 2,305 carloads, to 15,295.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads reported 78,196 carloads for the week, down 8.3 percent, and 73,060 intermodal units, up 4.8 percent compared with the same week in 2018. Mexican railroads logged 18,930 carloads for the week, down 5.7 percent, and 19,472 intermodal units, up 2.1 percent.

For the first 41 weeks of 2019 compared with the same period in 2018:
• U.S. railroads posted 21,280,053 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.1 percent;
• Canadian railroads logged 6,224,302 carloads, containers and trailers, up 1.1 percent; and
• Mexican railroads reported 1,547,389 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, down 2.8 percent.