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The final 2003 traffic tallies are in for U.S. and Canadian railroads, and the figures are encouraging all around. Not only did both set annual intermodal-traffic records, but U.S. and Canadian roads increased carloads 0.1 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively, according to Association of American Railroads data released Dec. 30.

In 2003, U.S. roads moved 9,943,362 trailers and containers, up 6.8 percent, and Canadian roads moved 2,164,216 trailers and containers, up 5.3 percent compared with 2002. Combined U.S.-Canadian intermodal volume of 12,107,578 trailers and containers rose 6.5 percent compared with a previous record 11,367,331 units in 2002.

During the year, U.S. and Canadian roads moved 16,933,957 and 3,273,523 carloads, respectively. Combined carload volume from 15 reporting U.S. and Canadian roads totaled 20,207,480 cars, up 0.3 percent compared with 2002.

U.S. railroads also set an annual total-volume record of 1.51 trillion ton-miles, which increased 1.9 percent compared with 2002's 1.48 trillion ton-miles.

The 2003 traffic news for TFM S.A. de C.V. wasn't as good. Although intermodal originations of 177,518 trailers and containers rose 10.9 percent, carloads totaling 435,901 dropped 2.8 percent compared with 2002.