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Although carloads and intermodal loads didn’t fare well on a year-over-year basis during the week of Good Friday, U.S. railroads registered traffic gains in March. The roads boosted carloads 2.5 percent to 1,729,924 units and increased intermodal loads 3 percent to 1,056,685 units compared with March 2004, according to Association of American Railroads data.

Coke, coal and chemical carloads rose 14.2 percent, 6.7 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, while waste and scrap material carloads dropped 10.5 percent and motor vehicles and equipment moves declined 8.4 percent.

“The traffic gains in March reflect an economy that is expanding at a healthy pace,” said AAR Vice President Craig Rockey in a prepared statement.

During the first quarter, U.S. roads boosted carloads 2.5 percent to 4,402,656 units and increased intermodal loads 7.6 percent to 2,781,254 units compared with first-quarter 2004. Total estimated volume of 408.7 billion ton-miles rose 3.3 percent.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads experienced a mixed March. The roads’ carloads dropped 0.6 percent to 360,340 units while intermodal loads increased 5.1 percent to 213,040 units compared with March 2004. However, during the first quarter, Canadian roads boosted carloads and intermodal loads 1.6 percent to 906,176 units and 4.9 percent to 538,684 units, respectively, compared with the same 2004 period.

On a combined cumulative-volume basis through 2005’s first 13 weeks, 15 reporting U.S. and Canadian roads moved 5,308,832 carloads, up 2.3 percent, and 3,319,938 trailers and containers, up 7.2 percent compared with a similar 2004 period.

In Mexico, TFM S.A. de C.V. must be glad March is over: The railroad’s carloads totaling 41,901 units dropped 3.3 percent and intermodal originations totaling 16,391 units fell 13.8 percent compared with March 2004. However, TFM boosted quarterly carloads 3.7 percent to 110,860 units and increased intermodal loads 4.2 percent to 47,313 units compared with first-quarter 2004.