(Source: Association of American Railroads press release, April 19, 2012)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported mixed weekly rail traffic for the week ending April 14, 2012, with U.S. railroads originating 276,789 carloads, down 6.4 percent compared with the same week last year. Intermodal volume for the week totaled 234,157 trailers and containers, up 1.6 percent compared with the same week last year.
Twelve of the 20 carload commodity groups posted increases compared with the same week in 2011, with petroleum products, up 39 percent; metallic ores, up 16.7 percent, and motor vehicles and equipment, up 15.3 percent. The groups showing a significant decrease in weekly traffic included farm products excluding grain, down 28.1 percent; coal, down 18.2 percent, and grain, down 16.3 percent.
Weekly carload volume on Eastern railroads was down 2 percent compared with the same week last year. In the West, weekly carload volume was down 9.4 percent compared with the same week in 2011.
For the first 15 weeks of 2012, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 4,226,853 carloads, down 3.1 percent from the same point last year, and 3,393,755 trailers and containers, up 2.4 percent from last year.