(The Association of American Railroads issued the following news release on September 1.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Intermodal traffic on U.S. railroads reached its highest weekly total so far this year during the week ended August 27, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.
Volume reached 237,135 trailers or containers, up 4.9 percent from the comparable week last year. The week was also the second highest in history for intermodal, trailing only the week ended November 20, 2004. Container volume gained 5.8 percent from last year while trailer volume rose 2.3 percent.
Carload traffic, which doesn’t include the intermodal data, totaled 339,194, down 1.6 percent from last year, with carload traffic up 0.2 percent in the East but down 3.0 percent in the West.
Total volume was estimated at 33.6 billion ton-miles, up 0.3 percent from last year.
Nine of 19 carload commodities were up from last year, with sharp gains reported in loadings of farm products other than grain, up 25.5 percent; grain, up 8.7 percent; grain mill products, up 15.1 percent; and nonmetallic minerals, up 12.3 percent. On the negative side, loadings of metallic ores were off 21.6 percent; waste and scrap declined 9.7 percent; and coal was down 4.4 percent.
Cumulative volume for the first 34 weeks of 2005 totaled 11,306,029 carloads, up 1.4 percent from 2004; 7,484,954 trailers or containers, up 6.2 percent; and total volume of an estimated 1.08 trillion ton-miles, up 2.2 percent from last year.
On Canadian railroads, during the week ended August 27 carload traffic totaled 77,775 cars, up 1.9 percent from last year while intermodal volume totaled 45,558 trailers or containers, up 7.3 percent from last year.
Cumulative originations for the first 34 weeks of 2005 on the Canadian railroads totaled 2,573,856 carloads, down 0.4 percent from last year, and 1,441,859 trailers and containers, up 2.6 percent from last year.
Combined cumulative volume for the first 34 weeks of 2005 on U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 13,879,885 carloads, up 1.0 percent from last year and 8,926,813 trailers and containers, up 5.6 percent from last year.
The AAR also reported that originated carload freight on the Mexican railroad Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM) during the week ended August 27 totaled 8,027 cars, down 7.4 percent from last year. TFM reported intermodal volume of 4,057 originated trailers or containers, down 2.8 percent from the 34th week of 2004. For the first 34 weeks of 2005, TFM reported cumulative originated volume of 288,567 cars, down 0.8 percent from last year, and 129,937 trailers or containers, up 5.4 percent.
Railroads reporting to AAR account for 87 percent of U.S. carload freight and 96 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.