(The Association of American Railroads issued the following on November 6.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rail freight traffic on U.S. railroads was down during October in comparison with the same month last year, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.
U.S. railroads originated 1,639,542 carloads of freight in the month, down 47,279 carloads (2.8 percent) from October 2007. Railroads also originated 1,175,499 intermodal units in October 2008, a decrease of 34,628 trailers and containers (2.9 percent) from October 2007.
Four of the 19 major commodity categories tracked by the AAR saw U.S. carload increases in October 2008 compared to October 2007.
Commodities showing substantial carload gains in October 2008 were coal (up 43,738 carloads, or 6.1 percent), metallic ores (up 2,289 carloads, or 6.1 percent), and the catch-all “all other carloads” (up 5,780 carloads, or 23.5 percent).
Commodities showing the biggest carload decreases in October 2008 were motor vehicles and equipment (down 23,239 carloads, or 22.7 percent), grain (down 18,394 carloads, or 13.4 percent), and metals and metal products (down 10,004 carloads, or 16.0 percent). Carloads of chemicals were down 5.1 percent, or 7,644 carloads.
For the first 10 months of 2008, total U.S. rail carloads were down 79,161 carloads (0.5 percent) to 14,316,427 carloads. U.S. intermodal traffic, which consists of trailers and containers on flat cars and is not included in carload figures, was down 312,630 trailers and containers (3.1 percent) for the first 10 months of 2008 to 9,922,130 units. Total volume was estimated at 1.49 trillion ton-miles, up 0.5 percent from last year.
“With the kind of economic news we’ve had over the past few weeks, a decline in rail traffic in October shouldn’t surprise anyone,” said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. “Auto-related rail traffic remains weak because auto sales are weak; grain traffic is down in part because rail grain traffic last year at this time was at record highs and because of the stronger dollar recently. Coal was really the lone bright spot for U.S. freight railroads in October.”
Canadian rail carload traffic was down 30,600 carloads (7.6 percent) in October 2008 to 371,819 carloads, and down 162,033 carloads (4.7 percent) for the year to date to 3,266,544 carloads.
Commodities showing carload gains for Canadian railroads in October included farm products excluding grain (up 4,414 carloads, or 35.7 percent) and coal (up 2,543 carloads, or 6.7 percent), among other commodities, but these were more than offset by declines in carloads of motor vehicles and equipment (down 11,510 carloads, or 33.6 percent), grain (down 7,842 carloads, or 14.3 percent), and chemicals (down 7,497 carloads, or 9.9 percent), among other commodities.
Canadian intermodal traffic was down 2,992 units (1.2 percent) in October 2008 compared with October 2007 to 249,782 units, and up 72,821 units (3.5 percent) for the first 10 months of 2008 to 2,132,082 units.
Carloads carried on Kansas City Southern dé Mexico, a major Mexican railroad, were down 6,163 carloads (11.1 percent) in October 2008 to 49,458 carloads, while intermodal units carried totaled 30,438 units, up 3,841 units (14.4 percent). For the year-to-date, KCSM carloads carried were down 6.0 percent (28,985 carloads), while intermodal units carried were up 9.2 percent (18,836 units).
For just the week ended November 1, the AAR reported the following totals for U.S. railroads: 319,994 carloads, down 5.4 percent (18,162 carloads) from the corresponding week in 2007, with loadings down 6.3 percent in the East and down 4.7 percent in the West; intermodal volume of 229,415 trailers and containers, down 4.9 percent (11,945 units) from last year; and total volume of an estimated 34.0 billion ton-miles, down 4.5 percent from the equivalent week last year.
For Canadian railroads during the week ended November 1, the AAR reported volume of 73,679 carloads, down 9.3 percent from last year; and 48,890 trailers and containers, down 4.7 percent from the corresponding week in 2007.
Combined cumulative rail volume for the first 44 weeks of 2008 on 12 reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 17,582,971 carloads, down 1.4 percent (241,194 carloads) from last year, and 12,054,212 trailers and containers, down 2.0 percent (239,809 units) from 2007’s first 44 weeks.