(Source: Association of American Railroads press release, April 12, 2012)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported mixed weekly rail traffic for the week ending April 7, 2012, with U.S. railroads originating 270,974 carloads, down 7.7 percent compared with the same week last year. Intermodal volume for the week totaled 231,153 trailers and containers, up 1.1 percent compared with the same week last year.
Nine of the 20 carload commodity groups posted increases compared with the same week in 2011, with petroleum products, up 33.3 percent; primary forest products, up 11.8 percent, and stone, clay and glass products, up 11.2 percent. The groups showing a significant decrease in weekly traffic included iron, steel and scrap, down 18.1; grain, down 16.6, and coal, down 16.1 percent.
Weekly carload volume on Eastern railroads was down 5.2 percent compared with the same week last year. In the West, weekly carload volume was down 9.3 percent compared with the same week in 2011.
For the first fourteen weeks of 2012, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 3,950,064 carloads, down 2.9 percent from last year, and 3,159,598 trailers and containers, up 2.4 percent from last year.