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U.S. railroads continued to build traffic momentum at January’s end. During the week ending Jan. 29, they originated 291,147 carloads, up 4.7 percent, and 222,742 intermodal loads, up 9.2 percent compared with volumes from the same week in 2010, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Fourteen of 20 carload commodity groups registered gains, while container volume climbed 10.1 percent and trailer volume rose 4.4 percent.

Intermodal volumes remained solid in the year’s fourth week “despite a weaker truckload start to 2011,” said Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. analysts in their weekly “Rail Flash” report, adding that recent weeks’ volumes have modestly outperformed average seasonal trends.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads reported weekly volume of 71,382 carloads, up 3.6 percent, and 45,694 containers and trailers, up 6.6 year over year. Mexican railroads’ weekly carloads climbed 13.1 percent to 15,148 units and intermodal volume rose 10.3 percent to 7,172 units.

Through 2011’s first four weeks, 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads originated 1.5 million carloads, up 6 percent, and 1.1 million containers and trailers, up 6.5 percent vs. 2010 totals.

For more AAR traffic data for the week ending Jan. 29 and through four weeks, follow this link.