U.S. rail traffic down a bit in Week 1

The first week of 2018 was a tad slow for U.S. railroads, which posted 415,862 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.6 percent compared with the same week last year, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Total carloads for the week ending Jan. 6 were 208,646 units, down 5.2 percent compared with the same week in 2017, while weekly intermodal volume was 207,216 containers and trailers, down 3.9 percent compared with a year ago.

One of the 10 carload commodity groups tracked by AAR on a weekly basis posted an increase compared with the same week in 2017: It was petroleum and petroleum products, up 741 carloads, to 9,640.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 119,340 carloads, containers and trailers, down 1.4 percent, for the first week of 2018 compared with the first week of 2017. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first week of the New Year was 28,660 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, up 4.4 percent from the same point last year.