(The Association of American Railroads issued the following on July 30, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Association of American Railroads today reported that rail carloadings for the week ended July 25, 2009 continue to show slight improvement, but rail traffic remains down compared with the same period last year. U.S railroads reported originating 273,943 cars, down 17.4 percent compared with the same week in 2008. Regionally, carloadings were down 15.6 percent in the West and 20 percent in the East.
Intermodal volume of 193,332 trailers or containers was down 17.9 percent from the same week last year. Container volume fell 12.1 percent and trailer volume dropped 39.1 percent. Total volume on U.S. railroads for the week ending July 25 was estimated at 29.3 billion ton-miles, down 16.3 percent from the same week last year.
All 19 carload freight commodity groups were down from last year with declines ranging from 2.9 percent for nonmetallic minerals to 57.9 percent for metallic ores.
For the first 29 weeks of 2009, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 7,610,311 carloads, down 19.1 percent from 2008; 5,376,118 trailers or containers, down 17.2 percent, and total volume of an estimated 809.7 billion ton-miles, down 18.1 percent.
Canadian railroads reported volume of 61,503 cars for the week, down 18.4 percent from last year, and 41,902 trailers or containers, down 17.1 percent. For the first 29 weeks of 2009, Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 1,728,034 carloads, down 23.8 percent from last year, and 1,163,185 trailers or containers, down 16.2 percent.
Mexican railroads reported originated volume of 11,541 cars, down 13.8 percent from the same week last year, and 5,779 trailers or containers, off 15.0 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 29 weeks of 2009 was reported as 329,211 carloads, down 14.7 percent from last year; and 139,425 trailers or containers, down 21.8 percent.
Combined North American rail volume for the first 29 weeks of 2009 on 14 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 9,667,556 carloads, down 19.8 percent from last year, and 6,678,728 trailers and containers, down 17.1 percent from last year.