(The Association of American Railroads issued the following on October 18.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Freight traffic on U.S. railroads was down compared with the same week last year during the week ended October 11, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.
Carload freight totaled 336,565 cars, down 1.0 percent from last year, with loadings down 1.7 percent in the West and down 5.0 percent in the East.
A total of 242,681 trailers and containers were loaded during the week, down 3.2 percent the comparable week last year. Container volume was down 2.4 percent while trailer loadings were off 6.1 percent from last year.
Total volume was estimated at 35.6 billion ton-miles, up 0.3 percent from the comparable week last year.
Among individual carload commodities, grain was up 14.0 percent from last year, nonmetallic ores showed a 6.8 percent gain from last year while nonmetallic minerals had a 6.4 percent gain. On the downside, farm products excluding grain dropped 22.5 percent; lumber and wood products fell 20.2 percent and coke showed a drop of 13.9 percent from last year.
Cumulative volume for the first 41 weeks of 2007 totaled 13,308,758 carloads, down 3.1 percent from 2006; 9,510,185 trailers or containers, a drop of 2.0 percent; and total volume of an estimated 1.38 trillion ton-miles, down 1.6 percent from last year.
On Canadian railroads, during the week ended October 11 carload traffic totaled 78,047 cars, a gain of 1.7 percent from last year while intermodal volume totaled 45,084 trailers or containers, a decline of 1.2 percent from last year.
Cumulative originations for the first 41 weeks of 2007 on the Canadian railroads totaled 3,197,713 carloads, down 0.8 percent from last year, and 1,906,527 trailers and containers, up 2.8 percent from last year.
Combined cumulative volume for the first 41 weeks of 2007 on U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 16,578,471 carloads, down 2.7 percent from last year, and 11,416,712 trailers and containers, down 1.2 percent from last year.
The AAR also reported that carload freight on the Mexican railroad Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM) during the week ended October 11 totaled 11,044 cars, down 14.7 percent from last year. KCSM reported intermodal volume of 5,662 trailers or containers, up 33.9 percent from the 41st week of 2006.
For the first 41 weeks of 2007, KCSM reported cumulative volume of 446,554 cars, down 4.3 percent from last year, and 188,446 trailers or containers, up 14.9 percent.
Railroads reporting to AAR account for 89 percent of U.S. carload freight and 98 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.