Rail freight maintains upward momentum

Written by Railway Age Staff
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Weekly rail freight traffic continued stronger than a year ago, according to the latest industry data.

The Association of American Railroads said U.S. rail traffic for the week ending June 23 totaled 557,340 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.7% from same week a year ago.

Traffic totaled 268,464 carloads, up 2.5%, while intermodal volume was 288,876 containers and trailers, up 4.9% on the 2017 week.

Nine of the 10 carload commodity groups posted a year-on-year increase. They included petroleum, 16.2%; metallic ores and metals, 10.2%; grain, 10.2%, and chemicals, 6.8%.

Coal was the lone weak category, off 3.6%.

For the first 25 weeks of 2018, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 6,476,498 carloads, up 1.3%, and 6,860,230 intermodal units, up 5.9%. Total combined traffic was 13,336,728 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.6% from a year ago.

Weekly North American rail volume on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 373,229 carloads, up 2.8% from the same week in 2017, and 376,161 intermodal units, up 3.9%. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 749,390 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.3%. Volume for the first 25 weeks of this year was 17,975,309 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.2%.

Canadian railroads reported 83,301 carloads for the week, up 6.5%, and 69,868 intermodal units, up 4.1%. For the first 25 weeks of 2018, volume was 3,686,302 carloads, containers and trailers, up 3.5%.

Mexican railroads reported 21,464 carloads for the week and 17,417 intermodal units. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 25 weeks of 2018 was 952,279 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers.

 

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