(The Association of American Railroads issued the following on August 20, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Association of American Railroads today reported that rail carloadings are registering incremental gains, but traffic remains down year over year for the week ended Aug. 15, 2009. U.S railroads reported originating 276,488 cars, down 17.1 percent compared with the same week in 2008. Regionally, carloadings were down 16.6 percent in the West and 17.8 percent in the East.
Intermodal volume of 193,488 trailers or containers was down 18.4 percent from the same week last year. Container volume fell 13.1 percent and trailer volume dropped 38.6 percent. Total volume on U.S. railroads for the week ending August 15 was estimated at 29.5 billion ton-miles, off 16.7 percent from the same week last year.
All 19 carload freight commodity groups were down from last year, with declines ranging from 0.9 percent for farm products not including grain to 51 percent for metals and metal products.
For the first 32 weeks of 2009, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 8,436,160 carloads, down 18.9 percent from 2008; 5,958,304 trailers or containers, down 17.2 percent, and total volume of an estimated 897.8 billion ton-miles, down 18 percent.
Canadian railroads reported volume of 62,796 cars for the week, down 21.7 percent from last year, and 42,828 trailers or containers, down 16.7 percent. For the first 32 weeks of 2009, Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 1,909,206 carloads, down 23.8 percent from last year, and 1,286,117 trailers or containers, down 16.3 percent.
Mexican railroads reported originated volume of 12,039 cars, down 10.6 percent from the same week last year, and 5,803 trailers or containers, off 15 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 32 weeks of 2009 was reported as 3635,192 carloads, down 15.2 percent from last year; and 156,543 trailers or containers, down 21.2 percent.
Combined North American rail volume for the first 32 weeks of 2009 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 10,708,558 carloads, down 19.7 percent from last year, and 7,400,964 trailers and containers, down 17.1 percent from last year.