Railroads in all three major North American nations scored solid gains in freight rail traffic during the week ending July 12, 2014, the Association of American Railroads reported Thursday, July 17.
U.S. freight carload traffic rose 4.8% for the week ending July 12, measured against the comparable week in 2013. U.S. intermodal volume also rose, as usual, up 3.2%. Total combined U.S. rail traffic notched a 4% gain.
Nine of 10 of the carload commodity groups AAR tracks on a weekly basis posted increases compared with the same week in 2013. Among the notables: motor vehicles and, up 64.7%, petroleum and petroleum products, up 16.2%, and nonmetallic minerals and products, up 14.2%. Coal was the sole declining commodity, down 5.3%.
Canadian freight carload traffic rose a robust 10.1% for the week ending July 12 measured against a year ago; Canadian intermodal volume was comparably strong, up 9.5%. Mexican freight carload traffic advanced 10.7% for the week compared with a year ago, while Mexican intermodal volume moved up 1.9%.
Combined North American freight carload traffic for the first 28 weeks of 2014 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads was up 2.8% measured against the comparable period in 2013. Combined North American intermodal volume was up 6% for the period, compared with last year.