AAR weekly traffic data: U.S., Canadian roads remain on the uptick

(Source: Progressive Railroading 08/23/2018)

Thirty-three weeks into the year, U.S railroads’ traffic continued to mount. During the week ending Aug. 18, they moved 567,477 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.7 percent year over year, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

U.S carloads increased 2.9 percent to 278,701 units and intermodal volume rose 4.4 percent to 288,776 units. Nine of 10 carload commodity groups tracked by the AAR posted a gain in the week, including grain, up 5,491 carloads to 23,404, and petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,544 carloads to 10,898. Coal carloads fell by 4,534 units to 93,248.

Through 2018’s first 33 weeks, U.S. railroads reported 8,626,033 carloads, up 1.7 percent, and 9,126,732 intermodal units, up 6 percent compared with totals from the same 2017 period. Total U.S. traffic in the period climbed 3.9 percent to 17,752,765 units.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads in the week ending Aug. 18 registered 82,159 carloads and 73,556 intermodal units, up 5.3 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively, year over year. Through 33 weeks, their cumulative traffic volume rose 3.9 percent to 4,897,940 units.

Mexican railroads for the week reported 21,166 carloads, down 0.8 percent, and 19,187 intermodal units, down 3.9 percent compared with the same 2017 period. Their cumulative volume through 33 weeks reached 1,270,080 units.

AAR data through 33 weeks also shows that 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads moved a total of 23,920,785 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.5 percent year over year.