U.S. freight-rail traffic fell, Canada’s rose in Week 32

(Source: Progressive Railroading 8/15/2019)

U.S. freight railroads logged 533,190 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending Aug. 10, a 4.3 percent decrease compared with the same week last year, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data. 

Railroads posted 261,194 carloads for the week, down 3.9 percent, and 271,996 containers and trailers, down 4.6 percent, AAR officials said in a press release.

Three of the 10 carload commodity groups that AAR tracks on a weekly basis posted increases. They were nonmetallic minerals, up 3,624 carloads to 41,976; petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,543 carloads to 13,424; and miscellaneous carloads, up 754 carloads to 10,195.

Commodity groups that logged decreases included coal, down 13,332 carloads to 77,300; metallic ores and metals, down 1,483 carloads to 22,347; and forest products, down 577 carloads to 10,020. 

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads reported 81,027 carloads for the week, up 1.5 percent, and 71,476 intermodal units, up 3.6 percent compared with the same week in 2018. Mexican railroads reported reported 20,105 carloads for the week, up 1.6 percent compared with the same week last year, and 19,077 intermodal units, down 1.2 percent.

For the first 32 weeks of 2019 compared with the same period in 2018:
• U.S. railroads reported combined traffic of 16,588,102 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.5 percent;
• Canadian railroads reported cumulative traffic of 4,836,907 carloads, containers and trailers, up 2 percent; and
• Mexican railroads reported 1,196,218 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, down 3.3 percent.