(Source: Association of American Railroads press release, March 15, 2012)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported mixed weekly rail traffic for the week ending March 10, 2012, with U.S. railroads originating 278,728 carloads, down 4.8 percent compared with the same week last year. Intermodal volume for the week totaled 226,039 trailers and containers, up 4.2 percent compared with the same week last year.
Eleven of the 20 carload commodity groups posted increases compared with the same week in 2011, with petroleum products, up 39.9 percent; motor vehicles and equipment, up 14.8 percent, and metallic ores, up 11.5 percent. The groups showing a significant decrease in weekly traffic included coal, down 13.1 percent, and coke, down 10.3 percent.
Weekly carload volume on Eastern railroads was down 3.8 percent compared with the same week last year. In the West, weekly carload volume was down 5.4 percent compared with the same week in 2011.
For the first ten weeks of 2012, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 2,834,520 carloads, down 1.4 percent from last year, and 2,226,134 trailers and containers, up 2.3 percent from last year.