(The Association of American Railroads issued the following news release on October 27.)
WASHINGTON — For the first time ever, intermodal traffic on U.S. railroads topped 250,000 units in a single week and total volume topped 35 billion ton-miles during the week ended October 22, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.
Intermodal volume of 250,152 trailers or containers broke the weekly record of 249,664 units set just one week earlier. Container volume was up 9.8 percent for the week while trailer volume gained 2.7 percent from last year.
Total volume was estimated at 35.2 billion ton-miles, up 1.4 percent from last year.
Carload freight, which doesn’t include the intermodal data, was at its fifth highest level so far this year, with volume of 344,595 cars, up 0.5 percent from last year. Carload volume was up 0.6 percent in the West and 0.4 percent in the East.
Eight of 19 carload commodity groups were up from last year with coal gaining 4.2 percent; food and kindred products rising 4.4 percent; and grain mill products increasing by 3.6 percent. On the downside, farm products other than grain fell 21.6 percent while metallic ores were off 10.2 percent; and nonmetallic minerals were down 16.7 percent.
Cumulative volume for the first 42 weeks of 2005 totaled 13,992,857 carloads, up 1.1 percent from 2004; 9,402,187 trailers or containers, up 6.4 percent; and total volume of an estimated 1.36 trillion ton-miles, up 2.6 percent from last year.
On Canadian railroads, during the week ended October 22 carload traffic totaled 80,064 cars, down 1.7 percent from last year while intermodal volume totaled 48,014 trailers or containers, up 4.1 percent from last year.
Cumulative originations for the first 42 weeks of 2005 on the Canadian railroads totaled 3,189,000 carloads, down 0.8 percent from last year, and 1,807,035 trailers and containers, up 3.0 percent from last year.
Combined cumulative volume for the first 42 weeks of 2005 on U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 17,181,857 carloads, up 0.8 percent from last year and 11,209,222 trailers and containers, up 5.8 percent from last year.
The AAR also reported that originated carload freight on the Mexican railroad Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM) during the week ended October 22 totaled 7,692 cars, down 12.9 percent from last year. TFM reported intermodal volume of 4,188 originated trailers or containers, down 10.9 percent from the 42nd week of 2004.
For the first 421 weeks of 2005, TFM reported cumulative originated volume of 352,024 cars, down 3.53 percent from last year, and 161,338 trailers or containers, up 2.8 percent.
Railroads reporting to AAR account for 87 percent of U.S. carload freight and 96 percent of rail intermodal volume. When the U.S. operations of Canadian railroads are included, the figures increase to 96 percent and 100 percent. The Canadian railroads reporting to the AAR account for 91 percent of Canadian rail traffic. Railroads provide more than 40 percent of U.S. intercity freight transportation, more than any other mode, and rail traffic figures are regarded as an important economic indicator.
AAR is the world’s leading railroad policy, research and technology organization focusing on the safety and productivity of rail carriers.