U.S. railroads report carload, intermodal increases in Week 41

Carload and intermodal volumes rose for U.S. railroads during the week ending Oct. 14, according to data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Total carloads for the week rose 0.5 percent to 264,161 units, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume increased 5.5 percent to 284,103 containers and trailers compared with the same week last year, AAR officials said in a press release.

Total U.S. weekly traffic climbed 3.1 percent to 548,264 carloads and intermodal units compared with the same week a year ago.

Four of the 10 carload commodity groups that AAR tracks weekly posted increases compared with the year-ago period. They included nonmetallic minerals, up 4,974 carloads to 40,007; metallic ores and metals, up 3,454 carloads to 22,306; and chemicals, up 1,805 carloads to 30,961.

Commodities that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2016 included grain, down 5,369 carloads to 21,930; petroleum and petroleum products, down 1,533 carloads to 8,959; and coal, down 1,419 carloads to 86,292.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads reported 79,939 carloads for the week, down 1.9 percent, and 71,535 intermodal units, up 22 percent compared with the same week in 2016. Mexican railroads reported 16,215 carloads for the week, up 5.4 percent compared with the same week last year, and 12,766 intermodal units, down 4.8 percent.

For the first 41 weeks of 2017 compared with the same period last year, U.S. railroads logged total combined traffic of 21,642,302 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 3.7 percent; Canadian railroads logged 5,945,902 carloads, containers and trailers, up 11.2 percent; and Mexican railroads logged 1,119,905 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, up 0.6 percent.