(The Association of American Railroads issued the following on June 25, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Freight traffic on U.S. railroads remained down for the week ended June 20 compared with the same period last year, the Association of American Railroads reported today.
U.S railroads reported originating 261,717 cars, down 17.7 percent from the same week in 2008. Regionally, carloadings were down 11.9 percent in the West and 25.2 percent in the East.
Intermodal volume of 187,759 trailers or containers was down 17.8 percent from the same week last year. Container volume fell 12 percent and trailer volume dropped 39.0 percent.
Total volume on U.S. railroads for the week ending June 20 was estimated at 27.7 billion ton-miles, off 16.6 percent from the same week last year.
Eighteen of 19 carload freight commodity groups were down from last year, with declines ranging from 1.8 percent for farm products other than grain to 65.4 percent for metallic ores. The lone group showing an increase was the catch-all category labeled “all other carloads” which was up 11.9 percent.
For the first 24 weeks of 2009, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 6,323,360 carloads, down 19.4 percent from 2008; 4,458,136 trailers or containers, down 16.9 percent; and total volume of an estimated 671.0 billion ton-miles, down 18.3 percent. Canadian railroads reported volume of 59,912 cars for the week, down 23.7 percent from last year, and 39,574 trailers or containers, down 18.2 percent. For the first 24 weeks of 2009, Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 1,419,664 carloads, down 24.1 percent from last year; and 967,286 trailers or containers, down 15.3 percent.
Mexican railroads reported originated volume of 13,291 cars, down 8.1 percent from the same week last year, and 4,816 trailers or containers, off 19.6 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 24 weeks of 2009 was reported as 269,451 carloads, down 14.2 percent from last year; and 114,461 trailers or containers, down 20.9 percent.
Combined North American rail volume for the first 24 weeks of 2009 on 14 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 8,012,475 carloads, down 20.1 percent from last year, and 5,539,883 trailers and containers, down 16.8 percent from last year.