Gains keep coming for U.S. freight rail traffic

U.S. freight rail traffic kept advancing in the latest week ending Oct. 11, 2014, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported Thursday, Oct 16, suggesting continued U.S economic strength may continue despite Wall Street concerns of a global economic slowdown.

U.S. freight carload traffic rose 4.3% for the week, measured against the comparable week in 2013. US. Intermodal volume maintained its long-running momentum, up 4.8% compared with a year ago. Total combined U.S. weekly rail traffic was up 4.6% for the week compared with its 2013 counterpart.

Eight of the 10 carload commodity groups AAR tracks on a weekly basis posted increases compared with the same week in 2013, not surprisingly including petroleum and petroleum products, up 19.5%. with 16,333 Nonmetallic minerals gained 12.2%.

Canadian freight carload traffic rose 5.2%, while Canadian intermodal volume also gained ground, up 3.3%, measured against the same week a year ago. Mexican freight carload traffic soared, up 38.3%, almost equaled in percentage terms by the rise in Mexican intermodal volume, up 30.8%.

Combined North American freight carload traffic for the first 41 weeks of 2014 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian. and Mexican was up 3.1% measured against the comparable period in 2013. Combined North American intermodal volume rose 5.7%.