The Association of American Railroads (AAR) on Jan. 4 reported total U.S. weekly rail traffic for the week ending Dec. 31, 2016 was 425,998 carloads and intermodal units, up 7.7% compared with the same week last year.
Total carloads for the week ending December 31 were 215,967 carloads, up 4% compared with the same week in 2015, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 210,031 containers and trailers, up 11.8% compared to 2015.
North American rail volume for the week ending December 31, 2016, on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 295,755 carloads, up 5.3% compared with the same week last year, and 263,659 intermodal units, up 9.9% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 559,414 carloads and intermodal units, up 7.4%. North American rail volume for the first 52 weeks of 2016 was 34,820,886 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.5% compared with 2015.
Canadian railroads reported 68,387 carloads for the week, up 10.5%, and 46,048 intermodal units, up 8.4% compared with the same week in 2015. For the first 52 weeks of 2016, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 6,845,205 carloads, containers and trailers, down 3.1%.
Mexican railroads reported 11,401 carloads for the week, up 2.4% compared with the same week last year, and 7,580 intermodal units, down 20.7%. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 52 weeks of 2016 was 1,388,330 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, down 1.9% from the same point last year.
Carload traffic in December totaled 973,642 carloads, up 2.8% or 26,147 carloads from December 2015. U.S. railroads also originated 1,011,870 containers and trailers in December 2016, up 11.2% or 102,215 units from the same month last year. For December 2016, combined U.S. carload and intermodal originations were 1,985,512, up 6.9% or 128,362 carloads and intermodal units from December 2015.
In December 2016, 13 of the 20 carload commodity categories tracked by the AAR each month saw carload gains compared with December 2015. These included: coal, up 4.2% or 13,360 carloads; grain, up 10.5% or 8,663 carloads; and chemicals, up 3.9% or 4,599 carloads. Commodities that saw declines in December 2016 from December 2015 included: petroleum and petroleum products, down 17.4% or 8,568 carloads; crushed stone, gravel and sand, down 4.1% or 2,889 carloads; and miscellaneous carloads, down 5.9% or 1,265 carloads.
Excluding coal, carloads were up 2% or 12,787 carloads in December 2016 from December 2015.