North American rail traffic remained at high ebb last week

For the week ending May 17, U.S. railroads reported 298,932 carloads, up 4.5 percent, and 267,061 intermodal loads, up 6.8 percent compared with volumes from the same week last year, according to the Association of American Railroads.

Total combined U.S. traffic rose 5.6 percent to 565,993 units and eight of 10 carload commodity groups posted gains, led by grain at 37.6 percent.

Through the year's first 20 weeks, U.S. railroads reported 5,680,070 carloads, up 2.7 percent, and 5,053,519 intermodal units, up 5.5 percent year over year.

For the week ending May 17, Canadian railroads reported 86,342 carloads, up 8.2 percent, and 60,883 intermodal units, up 9.9 percent. Mexican railroads' carloads increased 4.4 percent to 16,173 units and their intermodal volume climbed 6.1 percent to 10,762 units.

Through 20 weeks, 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads handled 7,502,303 carloads, up 1.3 percent, and 6,337,324 containers and trailers, up 5.3 percent compared with the same 2013 period.