U.S. freight traffic powers into October
Written by Douglas John Bowen
U.S. freight traffic continued to notch gains during the week ending Oct. 4, 2014, the Association of American Railroads reported Thursday, Oct. 9.
U.S. freight carload traffic for the week rose 7.4% measured against the comparable week in 2013, while U.S. intermodal volume advanced yet again, up 3.7% compared with the same week a year ago. Total combined U.S. weekly rail traffic up 5.6% compared with the same week last year.
All 10 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 26.9%. But coal, under pressure in recent months, also surged, up 8.9% compared with the same week a year ago.
Canadian freight carload traffic for the week ending Oct. 4 also rose, though modestly at 0.4%, while Canadian intermodal volume fell 2.6%. Mexican freight carload traffic for the week jumped up22.8%, while Mexican intermodal volume also notched a double-digit gain, up 10.8%.
Combined North American rail volume on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads for the first 40 weeks of 2014 was up 3.1% measured against the comparable period in 2013. Combined North American intermodal volume was up 5.7% compared with a year ago.
