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In March, U.S. railroads boosted carloads 7.5 percent compared with March 2009 volume, according to the Association of American Railroads’ (AAR) latest “Rail Time Indicators” report.

Sixteen of 19 major commodity categories tracked by AAR registered gains last month, led by primary metal products, up 66.1 percent; grain, up 20.4 percent; and chemicals, up 15.5 percent.

“While we are seeing positive growth in carloads compared with last year, things are still down from 2008,” said AAR Senior Vice President of Policy and Economics John Gray in a prepared statement. “It will take some time for traffic to rebound to where we were in 2006 — the best year in history for rail traffic.”

Meanwhile, U.S. railroads’ intermodal traffic jumped 12.1 percent in March on a year-over-year basis. On a seasonally adjusted basis, U.S. carloads increased 3.9 percent and intermodal volume rose 2.1 percent compared with February totals, according to the AAR.

Intermodal traffic remained strong through the end of the first quarter as domestic intermodal continued to increase market share, according to Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc.’s “Domestic Truck, Intermodal and Rail” report for March.

“Railroads are positioned to take mid-single-digit rate increases in the second quarter,” the report states. “Additionally, recent rail commentary reflects modest improvement in international intermodal, somewhat attributed to easier comparisons.”