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Halfway through 2009, U.S. railroads traffic fortunes haven’t turned. In June, they originated a little more than 1 million carloads, down 19.7 percent, and 755,000 intermodal loads, down 18.2 percent compared with June 2008 totals, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

“Whenever Americans grow something, eat something, mine something, make something, turn on a light or get dressed, freight railroads are probably involved somewhere along the line,” said AAR Senior Vice President John Gray in a prepared statement. “Unfortunately, right now there’s not enough mining, manufacturing and buying going on.”

During 2009’s first six months, U.S. railroads originated 6.6 million carloads, down 19.5 percent, and 4.7 million containers and trailers, down 17 percent year over year.

Canadian railroads in June originated 232,156 carloads, down 25.7 percent, and 156,411 intermodal loads, down 19.2 percent. In the first half, their carloads plunged 24.1 percent to 1.5 million units and intermodal volume tumbled 15.5 percent to 1 million units.

For more information on North American railroads' traffic through 2009's first 25 weeks — including data from the second quarter and for the week ending June 27 — follow this link.