(The Association of American Railroads issued the following on November 21.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Carload freight traffic on U.S. railroads was up for the fourth consecutive week compared with the same week a year ago during the week ended November 17, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.
Carload freight totaled 340,077 cars, an increase of 1.7 percent from last year, with loadings up 3.6 percent in the West but down 0.6 percent in the East.
A total of 244,829 trailers and containers were loaded during the week, down 2.3 percent the comparable week last year. Container volume was off 2.6 percent while trailer loadings slipped 4.5 percent fr6m last year.
Total volume was estimated at 35.8 billion ton-miles, up 2.6 percent from the comparable week last year. This was also the fourth straight week that total volume was above year earlier totals.
Nine of 19 Individual carload commodities were up from last year, with grain up 15.8 percent, motor vehicles and equipment up 15.6 percent and chemicals up 6.2 percent. On the downside, farm products (excluding grain) fell 10.1 percent; pulp, paper and allied products posted a 17.3 percent drop, and coke slipped 23.0 percent from last year.
Cumulative volume for the first 46 weeks of 2007 totaled 15,077,812 carloads, off 2.6 percent from 2006; 10,723,649 trailers or containers, a downward nudge of 2.1 percent; and total volume of an estimated 1.56 trillion ton-miles, a 1.2 percent slip down from last year.
On Canadian railroads, during the week ended November 17 carload traffic totaled 80,475 cars, up 7.3 percent from last year while intermodal volume totaled 51,236 trailers or containers, a boost of 10.2 percent from last year.
Cumulative originations for the first 46 weeks of 2007 on the Canadian railroads totaled 3,605,220 carloads, down 0.1 percent from last year, and 2,165,511 trailers and containers, an increase of 3.2 percent from last year.
Combined cumulative volume for the first 46 weeks of 2007 on U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 18,683,032 carloads, down 2.2percent from last year, and 12,889,160 trailers and containers, a 1.3 percent decrease from last year.
The AAR also reported that carload freight on the Mexican railroad Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM) during the week ended November 17 totaled 11,629 cars, upf6.7 percent from last year. KCSM reported intermodal volume of 5,767 trailers or containers, up 29.1 percent from the 46th week of 2006.
For the first 46 weeks of 2007, KCSM reported cumulative volume of 502,392 cars, down 4.2 percent from last year, and 215,051 trailers or containers, up 14.4 percent.
Railroads reporting to AAR account for 89 percent of U.S. carload freight and 98 percent of rail intermodal volume. When the U.S. operations of Canadian railroads are included, the figures increase to 96 percent and 100 percent. The Canadian railroads reporting to the AAR account for 91 percent of Canadian rail traffic. Railroads provide more than 40 percent of U.S. intercity freight transportation, more than any other mode, and rail traffic figures are regarded as an important economic indicator.