(Source: Association of American Railroads press release, September 1, 2011)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported a slight dip in weekly rail traffic, with U.S. railroads originating 299,943 carloads for the week ending August 27, 2011, down 0.8 percent compared with the same week last year. Intermodal volume for the week totaled 236,051 trailers and containers, down 0.5 percent compared with the same week last year.
Eleven of the 20 carload commodity groups posted increases from the comparable week in 2010, including: metallic ores, up 26.1 percent; iron and steel scrap, up 20.2 percent; and motor vehicles and equipment, up 13.2 percent. Groups showing a decrease in weekly traffic included: waste and nonferrous scrap, down 21.1 percent; farm products excluding grain, down 20.5 percent; and grain, down 17 percent.
Weekly carload volume on Eastern railroads was down 1.2 percent compared with the same week last year. In the West, weekly carload volume was down 0.6 percent compared with the same week in 2010.
For the first 34 weeks of 2011, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 9,830,960 carloads, up 1.9 percent from the same point last year, and 7,697,679 trailers and containers, up 6.1 percent from last year.
Full story: www.aar.org