AAR: North American Rail Volume Down 4% Through 11 Weeks
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) now has 11 weeks of rail traffic data for 2022 (ending March 19). Total carload and intermodal traffic fell 4% in North America—dropping 2.6% in the U.S. and 10.2% in Canada, and rising 3.4% in Mexico from the same point last year.
Week 11 (ending March 19, 2022) marks the second year since the pandemic began. Total U.S. weekly rail traffic came in at 499,362 carloads and intermodal units, down 2.7% compared with the same week in 2021, AAR reported on March 23. U.S. Class I railroads moved 232,770 carloads, increasing 1.1% from the prior-year period; and 266,592 containers and trailers, declining 5.7% from last year.
(For a roundup of 2021 and 2020 traffic, including the pandemic-related impacts, see “For 2021, Intermodal Record Collapses in Second Half” and “AAR: ‘Railroads Looking to the Future,’” respectively.)
For the week ending March 19, 2022, five of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase from the same week last year. They included coal, up 4,182 carloads, to 63,929; chemicals, up 2,656 carloads, to 34,178; and nonmetallic minerals, up 1,984 carloads, to 31,151. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2021 included grain, down 4,014 carloads, to 23,317; petroleum and petroleum products, down 2,457 carloads, to 9,181; and motor vehicles and parts, down 958 carloads, to 13,953.
For the first 11 weeks of 2022, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 2,521,622 carloads, a 3% boost from the same point last year; and 2,828,405 intermodal units, a 7.1% drop-off from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 11 weeks of 2022 was 5,350,027 carloads and intermodal units, dipping 2.6% from 2021.
North American rail volume for the week ending March 19, 2022, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 328,840 carloads, down 0.7% compared with the same week last year, and 348,166 intermodal units, down 6%. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 677,006 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.5%. North American rail volume for the first 11 weeks of 2022 was 7,249,341 carloads and intermodal units, down 4% from 2021.
Canadian railroads reported 73,635 carloads for the week, falling 9.5%, and 65,486 intermodal units, dropping 10.7% from the same week in 2021. For the first 11 weeks of 2022, they reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 1,487,674 carloads, containers and trailers, down 10.2%.
Mexican railroads reported 22,435 carloads for the week, gaining 16.2% from the same week last year, and 16,088 intermodal units, increasing 13.1%. Their cumulative volume for the first 11 weeks of 2022 was 411,640 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, rising 3.4% from 2021.
