U.S. rail traffic ratcheted up for second consecutive week

Both components of U.S. railroads' traffic posted gains for the second-straight week. For the period ending Oct. 19, U.S. carloads increased 0.2 percent to 289,256 units and intermodal volume rose 4.3 percent to 264,687 units compared with totals from the same week last year, according to the Association of American Railroads.

Total U.S. rail traffic increased 2.1 percent to 553,943 units. Eight of 10 carload commodity groups registered gains, led by petroleum and petroleum products at 15.5 percent and grain at 9.6 percent.

Canadian railroads reported weekly carloads totaling 81,870, up 4.9 percent, and intermodal traffic totaling 57,917 units, up 8.5 percent year over year. Mexican railroads' weekly carloads climbed 13.3 percent to 15,120 and their intermodal volume rose 5.5 percent to 11,785 units.

Through 2013's first 42 weeks, 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads handled 15,745,454 carloads, virtually unchanged compared with the same point last year, and 13,027,161 trailers and containers, up 3.7 percent year over year.