(The Association of American Railroads issued the following on July 23, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Association of American Railroads today reported that rail traffic continues to reflect the sluggish economy with traffic remaining down year over year for the week ended July 18, 2009. U.S railroads reported originating 268,553 cars, down 17.9 percent compared with the same week in 2008. Regionally, carloadings were down 17.3 percent in the West and 18.9 percent in the East. Rail carloadings were at their highest level in 15 weeks.
Intermodal volume of 189,541 trailers or containers was down 18.8 percent from the same week last year. Container volume fell 13.5 percent and trailer volume dropped 38.6 percent. Total volume on U.S. railroads for the week ending July 11 was estimated at 28.7 billion ton-miles, off 17.3 percent from the same week last year.
Seventeen of the 19 carload freight commodity groups were down from last year with declines ranging from 11 percent for chemicals to 51.6 percent for metallic ores. The commodity group showing a significant increase over last year was farm products other than grain, which was up 19.8 percent.
For the first 28 weeks of 2009, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 7,337,655 carloads, down 19.1 percent from 2008; 5,182,786 trailers or containers, down 17.2 percent, and total volume of an estimated 780.4 billion ton-miles, down 18.2 percent.
Canadian railroads reported volume of 57,810 cars for the week, down 24.4 percent from last year, and 40,198 trailers or containers, down 22.3 percent. For the first 28 weeks of 2009, Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 1,666,531 carloads, down 24 percent from last year, and 1,121,283 trailers or containers, down 16.2 percent.
Mexican railroads reported originated volume of 12,543 cars, down 7.3 percent from the same week last year, and 5,365 trailers or containers, off 21.1 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 28 weeks of 2009 was reported as 317,670 carloads, down 14.8 percent from last year; and 133,646 trailers or containers, down 22.1 percent.
Combined North American rail volume for the first 28 weeks of 2009 on 14 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 9,321,856 carloads, down 19.9 percent from last year, and 6,437,715 trailers and containers, down 17.1 percent from last year.