(The Association of American Railroads issued the following on March 18, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Freight traffic on U.S. railroads was up from a year ago during the week ended March 13, the third consecutive week of gains on a year over year basis, the Association of American Railroads reported today.
U.S. railroads originated 287,837 carloads during the week, up 3.2 percent from the comparable week in 2009, but down 12 percent from 2008. In order to offer a complete picture of the progress in rail traffic, AAR now reports 2010 weekly rail traffic with comparison weeks in both 2009 and 2008.
Intermodal traffic totaled 203,626 trailers and containers, up 15.1 percent from last year but down 5.9 percent compared with 2008.
Compared with the same week in 2009, container volume increased 19.4 percent and trailer volume dipped 3.8 percent. Compared with the same week in 2008, container volume was up 3.4 percent while trailer volume fell 37 percent.
Total volume for the week was estimated at 31.3 billion ton-miles, up 4.3 percent from last year but down 9 percent from 2008.
In the Eastern U.S., carloads were up 2.9 percent compared with the same week last year, but off 13.1 percent compared with 2008. In the Western U.S., carloads were up 3.4 percent compared with 2009, but down 11.2 percent compared with 2008.
Thirteen of 19 carload commodity groups showed gains from a year ago.
Among commodities showing the largest gains were metals, up 54.3 percent; waste and scrap, up 31.8 percent; grain, up 21.9 percent; lumber and wood products, up 19.4 percent; and chemicals, up 19.3 percent. On the downside, coal loadings were off 5.1 percent and pulp, paper and allied products dropped 9.4 percent.
For the first 10 weeks of 2010, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 2,719,658 carloads, down 0.2 percent from 2009 and 15.7 percent from 2008; 2,018,760 trailers or containers, up 8.1 percent from 2009, but down 9.1 percent from 2008, and total volume of an estimated 295.8 billion ton-miles, up 0.8 percent from 2009 but down 12.8 percent from 2008.
Canadian railroads reported volume of 74,300 cars for the week, up 24.5 percent from last year, and 43,260 trailers or containers, up 10.9 percent from 2009. For the first 10 weeks of 2010, Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 713,354 carloads, up 14.6 percent from last year, and 436,065 trailers or containers, up 6.8 percent from last year.
Mexican railroads reported originated volume of 13,524 cars, up 10.4 percent from the same week last year, and 7,655 trailers or containers, up 63.3 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 10 weeks of 2010 was reported as 134,217 carloads, up 21 percent from last year; and 65,960 trailers or containers, up 40.9 percent.
Combined North American rail volume for the first 10 weeks of 2010 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 3,567,229 carloads, up 3.2 percent from last year, and 2,520,785 trailers and containers, up 8.6 percent from last year.