(The Association of American Railroads issued the following press release on June 9, 2011.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported steady results in weekly rail traffic with U.S. railroads originating 273,584 carloads for the week ending June 4, 2011, up 1.1 percent compared with the same week last year. Intermodal volume for the week totaled 205,565 trailers and containers, up 7.2 percent compared with the same week in 2010.
Fifteen of the 20 carload commodity groups posted increases from the comparable week in 2010. Commodity groups posting solid increases included: iron and steel scrap, up 18.7 percent; coke, up 18.1 percent, and grain, up 17.4 percent. Groups posting a notable decrease included: primary forest products, down 15.2 percent, and nonmetallic minerals, down 10.5 percent.
Weekly carload volume on Eastern railroads was up 1.9 percent compared with the same week last year. In the West, weekly carload volume was up 0.6 percent compared with the same week in 2010.
For the first 22 weeks of 2011, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 6,384,231 carloads, up 3.1 percent from last year, and 4,909,266 trailers and containers, up 8.5 percent from the same point in 2010.
Full story: www.aar.org