U.S., Canada rail freight loads add to gains

Written by Douglas John Bowen
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Total U.S. and Canadian freight rail traffic, along with Mexico intermodal volume, continued to gain ground during the week ending Sept. 6, 2014, the Association of American Railroads reported Thursday, Sept. 11. Only Mexican freight carload traffic declined.

U.S. freight carload traffic for the week notched a 2.7% gain, measured against the comparable week in 2013. U.S. intermodal volume extended its prolonged winning streak, up 4.5%. Total combined U.S. rail traffic rose 3.5%.

Nine of 10 of the carload commodity groups AAR tracks on a weekdly basis posted increases compared with the same week in 2013, including petroleum and petroleum products, up 31.1%, nonmetallic minerals, up 13.1%, and metallic ores and metals, up 8.5%. Coal was the standout declining commodity for the week, down 5.4% from the same period of a year ago.

Canadian freight carload volume beat its U.S. counterpart on a percentage basis for the week ending Sept. 6, up 3.4%, while Canadian intermodal volume advanced 5.7%. Mexcian freight carload traffic just failed to gain the winner’s column, down 0.2%, but Mexican intermodal volume fared better, up 26.3%.

Combined North American freight carload traffic for the first 36 weeks of 2014 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads was up 3.1% percent measured against the comparable period in 2013. Combined North American intermodal volume was up 5.9%.

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