U.S. freight-rail traffic inches up 1.2% in Week 21

U.S. railroads' carload volume continued to slide in the week ending May 25, while intermodal volume once again lifted total traffic to a 1.2% increase in carloads, containers and trailers compared with traffic levels in the same period last year, according to Association of American Railroads data.

Total carloads fell 6.9% to 217,744 during the week, but intermodal units rose 8.9% to 267,488 containers and trailers. Combined, carload and intermodal volumes reached 485,232.

Three of the 10 carload commodity groups that AAR tracks weekly posted an increase. They were petroleum and petroleum products, up 22.4% to 11,337; chemicals, up 4.8% to 33,439; and farm products excluding grain, and food, up 3.6% to 17,091.

Commodity groups that posted decreases included coal, down 20.1% to 50,216; nonmetallic minerals, down 11.8% to 30,981; and metallic ores and metals, down 9.8% to 21,689.

Also during the week, Canadian railroads reported 84,882 carloads, down 1.3%, and 70,899 intermodal units, down 5.6%. Meanwhile, Mexican railroads posted 17,601 carloads for the week, up 24.3%, and 12,098 intermodal units, up 12.3%.

For the first 21 weeks of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023:
• U.S. railroads logged 9,801,897 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 1.9%;
• Canadian railroads reported 3,385,766 carloads, containers and trailers, an increase of 0.7% and
• Mexican railroads posted 633,668 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 11.2%.