U.S. freight-rail traffic inched up in Week 41

U.S. freight-rail traffic rose in another week this month, with railroads reporting 492,781 carloads and intermodal units —  a 0.5% increase — in the week ending Oct. 14 compared with the same period a year ago, according to Association of American Railroads data.

Carloads totaled 225,405, down 2%, while intermodal volume totaled 267,376 containers and trailers, up 2.8%.

Six of the 10 carload commodity groups that AAR tracks every week posted increases. They included petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,774 carloads to 10,583; motor vehicles and parts, up 955 carloads to 15,712; and miscellaneous carloads, up 809 carloads to 8,786.

Commodity groups that posted decreases included coal, down 4,787 carloads to 62,138; grain, down 2,049 carloads to 22,176; and metallic ores and metals, down 1,705 carloads to 18,137.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads reported 94,482 carloads for the week, down 2.4%, and 69,104 intermodal units, down 12.1%. Mexican railroads logged 15,858 carloads, down 15.7%, and 10,666 intermodal units, down 3.5%.

For the first 41 weeks of 2023 compared with the same period in 2022:
• U.S. railroads reported 19,096,162 carloads, containers and trailers, down 4%;
• Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 6,507,594 carloads, containers and trailers, down 3.5%; and
• Mexican railroads reported 1,145,319 carloads, containers and trailers, up 2.8%.