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U.S. and Canadian railroads continued their steady traffic climb through 2006’s 31st week, with U.S. roads carrying 334,049 carloads, up 1.2 percent, and Canadian roads carrying 74,927 carloads, up 4.5 percent compared with totals from the same 2005 period, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Also during the week ending Aug. 5, U.S. and Canadian roads’ intermodal volume rose 5.1 percent to 241,661 trailers and containers, and 10.8 percent to 43,894 trailers and containers, respectively.

Through 2006’s first 31 weeks, U.S. roads originated 10.4 million carloads, up 1.5 percent, and 7.2 million trailers and containers, up 6.4 percent compared with totals from the same 2005 period. Total estimated volume of 1.03 trillion ton-miles was up 2.8 percent.

Canadian roads’ year-to-date traffic totaled 2.3 million carloads, down 1.4 percent, and 1.4 million trailers and containers, up 6.2 percent compared with last year.

On a combined cumulative-volume basis through 2006’s first 31 weeks, 13 reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads originated 12.7 million carloads, up 1.0 percent, and 8.6 million trailers and containers, up 6.4 percent.

Meanwhile, for the week ending Aug. 5, Kansas City Southern de Mexico reported total carload volume of 10,870, down 6.6 percent, and intermodal volume of 3,963, down 2.1 percent compared with totals from the same 2005 period. Through 31 weeks, KCSM posted total cumulative volume of 348,621 cars, down 5.4 percent, and 119,753 trailers and containers, down 6.6 percent.