(The Association of American Railroads issued the following on September 24, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Association of American Railroads today reported 282,341 carloads for the week ending Sept. 19, 2009, down 9.6 percent compared with the same week in 2008. While the weekly year-over-year percentage decline was better than for the previous week ending Sept. 12, 2009, down 19.8 percent, this week in 2008 was impacted by service disruptions associated with Hurricane Ike. Regionally, carloadings were down 4.8 percent in the West and 15.8 percent in the East.
Intermodal traffic of 205,137 trailers or containers on U.S. railroads was down 12.4 percent from the same week last year. Container volume fell 6.29 percent and trailer volume dropped 35.5 percent.
Fifteen of the 19 carload freight commodity groups were down from last year. However, chemicals were up 17.4 percent, petroleum products were up 6.7 percent and farm products (excluding grain) were up slightly by 3.3 percent.
For the first 37 weeks of 2009, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 9,831,638 carloads, down 18.2 percent from 2008; 6,936,253 trailers or containers, down 16.8 percent, and total volume of an estimated 1.05 trillion ton-miles, down 17.3 percent. Total volume on U.S. railroads for the week ending September 19 was estimated at 30.2 billion ton-miles, off 8.5 percent from the same week last year.
Canadian railroads reported volume of 68,134 cars for the week, down 10.7 percent from last year, and 45,859 trailers or containers, down 11.4 percent. For the first 37 weeks of 2009, Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 2,235,077 carloads, down 22.8 percent from last year, and 1,500,252 trailers or containers, down 16.3 percent.
Mexican railroads reported originated volume of 10,836 cars, down 0.8 percent from the same week last year, and 6,223 trailers or containers, down 7.8 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 37 weeks of 2009 was reported as 420,254 carloads, down 14.1 percent from last year; and 189,297 trailers or containers, down 19.1 percent.
Combined North American rail volume for the first 37 weeks of 2009 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 12,486,969 carloads, down 18.9 percent from last year, and 8,625,802 trailers and containers, down 16.8 percent from last year.