advertisement

---

It took the July 4th holiday to slow down U.S. railroads’ traffic-building momentum. During the week ending July 9, the roads moved 281,984 carloads, a 1.3 percent decrease compared with the same 2004 week, which also included the holiday, according to the Association of American Railroads. However, the roads’ weekly intermodal loads totaling 186,669 units rose 4.3 percent.

During the year’s first 27 weeks, U.S. roads moved 8.96 million carloads, up 1.6 percent, and 5.85 million trailers and containers, up 6.1 percent compared with the same 2004 period. Total estimated volume of 853.3 billion ton-miles rose 2.4 percent.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads had another disappointing week during the period ending July 9. Carloads totaling 70,168 units and intermodal loads totaling 40,643 units dropped 5.0 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively, compared with the same 2004 week.

Through 27 weeks, Canadian roads’ carloads totaling 2.06 million units decreased 0.3 percent while intermodal loads totaling 1.14 million units rose 2.3 percent compared with a similar 2004 period.

On a combined cumulative-volume basis through 27 weeks, reporting U.S. and Canadian roads moved 11.03 million carloads, up 1.2 percent, and 6.99 million trailers and containers, up 5.5 percent compared with last year.

In Mexico, TFM S.A. de C.V. boosted carloads 4.4 percent to 8,178 units during the week ending July 9. But the road’s weekly intermodal loads totaling 3,060 units fell 2.7 percent compared with the same 2004 week. Through 27 weeks, TFM moved 232,721 carloads, up 0.8 percent, and 103,676 trailers and containers, up 6.8 percent compared with last year.