U.S. freight traffic categories continued to grain ground in the week ending September 13, 2014, the Association of American Railroads reported Thursday, Sept. 18, boosted by record-breaking intermodal activity.
U.S. freight carload traffic for the week rose 1.4% measured against the comparable week in 2013, AAR said, while U.S. intermodal volume advanced 5%. The week's intermodal volume, with 279,052 units, was a record high for the railroad industry," AAR emphasized. Total combined U.S. weekly rail traffic was up 3.1% compared with the same week last year.
Six 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 with 16,902 carloads, up 29.9%, nonmetallic minerals, up 9.7%, and metallic ores and metals, up 6.3%.
Canadian freight carload traffic fared less well, falling 4.7% during the week ending Sept. 13, though Canadian intermodal volume rose 6.2% compared with the same week in 2013. Mexican freight carload traffic rebounded from last week's decline, notching a 10.9% advance, while Mexican intermodal also rose modestly, up 0.5%.
Combined North American freight carload traffic for the first 37 weeks of 2014 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian, was up 3% measured against the comparable period in 2013. Combined North American intermodal volume for the period was up 5.8%.