(The Association of American Railroads issued the following on November 2.)
WASHINGTON — Both carload and intermodal freight increased during October on U.S. railroads in comparison with October, 2005, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.
Railroads originated 1,355,091 carloads of freight in October 2006, up 24,116 carloads (1.8 percent) from October 2005. Intermodal volume of 1,006,812 intermodal units represented an increase of 18,913 trailers and containers (1.9 percent) over last year.
Nine of the 19 major commodity categories tracked by the AAR saw U.S. carload increases in October 2006 compared to October 2005.
Commodities showing carload gains in October 2006 included coal (up 38,745 carloads, or 7.3 percent, to 571,404 carloads); grain (up 6,083 carloads, or 6.8 percent, to 96,057 carloads); and chemicals (up 2,933 carloads, or 2.6 percent, to 114,387 carloads).
Commodities showing carload decreases in October 2006 included motor vehicles and equipment (down 8,985 carloads, or 9.5 percent, to 85,362 carloads); stone, clay, and glass products (down 4,815 carloads, or 11.1 percent, to 38,389 carloads); and lumber and wood products (down 4,335 carloads, or 18.9 percent, to 18,570 carloads).
For the first 10 months of 2006, total U.S. rail carloads were up 200,099 carloads (1.4 percent) to 14,491,294 carloads, as year-over-year increases in coal (up 262,068 carloads, or 4.5 percent); metals and metal products (up 49,515 carloads, or 8.7 percent); and grain (up 36,355 carloads, or 3.9 percent), among other categories, offset declines in nonmetallic minerals (down 56,899 carloads, or 17.6 percent); motor vehicles and equipment (down 47,614 carloads, or 4.9 percent); and metallic ores (down 23,617 carloads, or 7.5 percent), among others.
U.S. intermodal traffic, which consists of trailers and containers on flat cars and is not included in carload figures, was up 564,852 trailers and containers (5.9 percent) for the first 10 months of 2006 to 10,210,287 units.
Total volume through the end of October was estimated at 1.44 trillion ton-miles, up 2.7 percent from a year earlier.
“Coal and intermodal continue to post strong volume gains – the top 5 coal months in history have all occurred since May of this year, and the top 10 intermodal weeks ever have all occurred since the end of July of this year,” noted AAR Vice President Craig F. Rockey.
Canadian rail carload traffic was down 11,127 carloads (3.5 percent) in October 2006 to 302,504 carloads, and down 43,725 carloads (1.3 percent) for the year to date to 3,212,432 carloads. In October, carload gains for grain (up 5,849 carloads, or 15.2 percent), among other commodities, were not enough to offset declines in carloads of motor vehicles and equipment (down 6,352 carloads, or 21.1 percent) and lumber and wood products (down 2,200 carloads, or 12.2 percent), among other commodities.
Canadian intermodal traffic was up 6,709 units (3.6 percent) in October 2006 compared with October 2005 to 194,978 units, and up 102,987 units (5.6 percent) for the first 10 months of 2006 to 1,956,873 units.
Carloads carried on Kansas City Southern dé Mexico (formerly Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana – TFM), a major Mexican railroad, were up 1,038 carloads (2.2 percent) in October 2006 to 48,432 carloads, while intermodal units carried totaled 17,532 units, up 898 units (5.4 percent). For the year-to-date, KCSM carloads carried were down 3.5 percent (17,828 carloads), while intermodal units carried were down 2.7 percent (4,717 units).
For just the week ended October 28, the AAR reported the following totals for U.S. railroads: 338,616 carloads, up 0.2 percent (627 carloads) from the corresponding week in 2005, with loadings down 3.8 percent in the East and up 3.4 percent in the West; intermodal volume of 251,838 trailers and containers, up 3.5 percent (8,590 units) from last year; and total volume of an estimated 34.7 billion ton-miles, up 1.2 percent from the equivalent week last year.
For Canadian railroads during the week ended October 28, the AAR reported volume of 75,746 carloads, down 5.1 percent from last year; and 50,367 trailers and containers, up 2.4 percent from the corresponding week in 2005.
Combined cumulative rail volume for the first 43 weeks of 2006 on 13 reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 17,703,726 carloads, up 0.9 percent (156,374 carloads) from last year, and 12,167,160 trailers and containers, up 5.8 percent (667,839 units) from 2005’s first 43 weeks.