U.S. rail volumes fell in February

In February, U.S. railroads' traffic declined 5.2% to 101,452 carloads and intermodal units compared with February 2021's mark, according to Association of American Railroads data.

Carload volume fell 1.6% to 905,744 units while intermodal volume plunged 8.4% to 943,979 containers and trailers.

Only eight of the 20 carload commodity categories that AAR tracks each month logged gains last month. They included crushed stone, sand and gravel, up 13.1%; petroleum and petroleum products, up 15.8%; and motor vehicles and parts, up 8.9%.

Commodities that posted declines included coal at 6.1%, grain at 9.7% and chemicals at 4.6%. Combined, coal, chemicals and grain account for more than half of all U.S. non-intermodal volume, said AAR Vice President John Gray in a press release.

"When all three are down like they were in February, it’s very hard for total carloads not to be down too,” he said. "On the positive side, several commodities — including crushed stone and sand, petroleum products, steel products, grain mill and food products — showed very strong performances."

U.S. freight-rail traffic for the first eight weeks of 2023 totaled 3,693,347 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.2% year over year.