Week 23: U.S. Rail Traffic Behind 2021 Levels, Flat With 2019

(Photograph Courtesy of Norfolk Southern)

U.S. freight rail traffic dipped again in Week 23, compared with the prior-year period, as carloads were down 2.8% and intermodal fell 4.4%, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported for the week ending June 11, 2022.

For Week 23, total U.S. weekly rail traffic came in at 510,295 carloads and intermodal units, decreasing 3.6% from the same week in 2021. U.S. Class I railroads moved 234,942 carloads, down 2.8% from last year; and 275,353 containers and trailers, down 4.4%, according to AAR.

This is the 16th consecutive week that total traffic has declined. (Total traffic gains were last seen in Week 7, which ended Feb. 17, 2022.)

However, rail volumes for Week 23 were flat compared with the same week in 2019, according to Susquehanna Financial Group (SFG) Analyst Bascome Majors. He also found that the four-week trend was down 2% from 2019 and down 3% from 2021. According to Majors’ analysis, intermodal for the week ending June 11, 2022 was up 3% from 2019, and the four-week trend for intermodal was up 3% from 2019. (See SFG chart, left.)

According to AAR, three of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase for the week ending June 11, 2022 compared with the same week in 2021. They were motor vehicles and parts, up 1,571 carloads, to 13,793; farm products excluding grain, and food, up 1,203 carloads, to 16,340; and nonmetallic minerals, up 618 carloads, to 33,028. Commodity groups that posted decreases included grain, down 2,912 carloads, to 21,429; coal, down 2,657 carloads, to 66,607; and miscellaneous carloads, down 1,466 carloads, to 9,769.

For the first 23 weeks of 2022, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 5,296,578 carloads, flat with 2021; and 6,081,199 intermodal units, down 6.4% from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 23 weeks of 2022 was 11,377,777 carloads and intermodal units, a 3.5% drop-off vs. last year.

North American rail volume for the week ending June 11, 2022, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 332,226 carloads, a 2.5% fall-off from the same point last year, and 363,156 intermodal units, a 4.1% decrease. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 695,382 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.3%. North American rail volume for the first 23 weeks of this year was 15,516,828 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.7% compared with 2021.

Canadian railroads reported 77,814 carloads for the week, up 2.1%, and 73,084 intermodal units, down 0.4% from the same week in 2021. For the first 23 weeks of 2022, they reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 3,285,099 carloads, containers and trailers, down 5.8%.

Mexican railroads reported 19,470 carloads for the week, down 15.7% compared with the same week last year, and 14,719 intermodal units, down 14.4%. Their cumulative volume for the first 23 weeks of 2022 was 853,952 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, up 2.8% from the year-earlier period.