(The Association of American Railroads issued the following news release on January 4.)
WASHINGTON — U.S. freight railroads completed a record-breaking year by originating 1,267,054 carloads of freight in December 2006 and an additional 889,172 intermodal trailers and containers, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.
Full-year 2006 U.S. carloads totaled 17,380,102, up 1.2 percent (213,751 carloads) over 2005. Full-year 2006 U.S. intermodal loadings were 12,282,221 units, up 5.0 percent (588,709 trailers and containers) over 2005’s 11,693,512 units, which had been the previous highest annual total ever.
Also setting a record in 2006 was total freight volume, which was estimated at 1.74 trillion ton-miles, up 2.5 percent from the previous record which was set in 2005. “U.S. freight railroads, working with their Canadian and Mexican counterparts, handled significantly more traffic in 2006 than ever before. North American freight railroads are the most efficient and cost-effective freight railroads in the world,” noted AAR Vice President Craig F. Rockey. “Because of record high traffic levels, capacity expansion will be a key issue in 2007. Railroads will spend massive amounts of private capital to add capacity where it is needed, and policymakers can support this investment with appropriate legislative incentives and regulatory policies that recognize that railroads are a vital component of our economy.”
December 2006 carloads on U.S. railroads were up 2.4 percent (29,608 carloads) over December 2005, while intermodal loadings were up 1.8 percent (15,871 units) for the month. For the fourth quarter of 2006, U.S. rail carloadings were up 0.9 percent (37,768 carloads) to 4,243,899 carloads, while intermodal traffic was up 1.4 percent (42,770 units) to 3,078,746 trailers and containers.
Coal paced U.S. rail traffic in 2006. Carloads of coal rose 6.8 percent (35,257 carloads) in December 2006 to 552,568 carloads; rose 5.9 percent (101,153 carloads) in the fourth quarter to 1,822,877 carloads; and rose 4.7 percent (324,476 carloads) to 7,282,608 carloads for 2006 as a whole. In 2006, coal accounted for 42 percent of total non-intermodal U.S. rail carloadings.
Carloads of chemicals rose 0.6 percent (619 carloads) in December, rose 0.8 percent (3,018 carloads) in the fourth quarter, and fell 1.1 percent (16,566 carloads) for the full year. In 2006, total chemical carloads of 1,519,261 accounted for 9 percent of total non-intermodal U.S. rail carloadings, second only to coal.
Grain saw carloads rise 10.5 percent (8,689 carloads) in December, 6.5 percent (18,265 carloads) in the fourth quarter, and 4.3 percent (48,537 carloads) for all of 2006. Total grain carloads of 1,178,547 in 2006 were the third highest of any commodity category, behind coal and chemicals and just ahead of crushed stone, sand, and gravel (1,175,955 carloads).
All told, of the 19 major commodity categories tracked by the AAR, eight saw U.S. carload gains in December, eight saw gains in the fourth quarter, and nine saw gains over 2005 for the full year.
“The difficulties in the housing and automotive sectors led to reduced rail carloadings in several categories, especially in the second half of the year,” Rockey said. Carloads of lumber and wood products were down 9.1 percent (28,188 carloads) in 2006, while carloads of motor vehicles and equipment were down 6.0 percent (69,815 carloads).
Canadian rail carload traffic, which includes the U.S. operations of Canadian railroads, was down 4.2 percent (11,807 carloads) in December 2006 to 268,234 units. For the fourth quarter of 2006, Canadian carloads were also down 4.2 percent (40,875 carloads) to 934,528.
For all of 2006, Canadian carload traffic totaled 3,844,456 units, down 1.9 percent (73,473 carloads). In 2006, chemicals, grain, metallic ores, coal, and motor vehicles and equipment were the five highest volume commodities carried in carload service by Canadian railroads.
Canadian intermodal traffic rose 4.8 percent (7,598 units) in December to 167,529 units; rose 3.1 percent (17,933 units) in the fourth quarter to 595,083 units; and rose 5.1 percent (114,211 units) for the full year to 2,356,978 trailers and containers.
Carloads carried on Kansas City Southern dé Mexico (formerly Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana – TFM), a major Mexican railroad, were up 4.9 percent (2,089 carloads) in December 2006 to 44,754 carloads, while intermodal units carried of 15,604 were up 15.2 percent (2,053 trailers and containers). For the full year 2006, carloads carried of 592,025 were down 2.5 percent (14,989 carloads), while intermodal traffic rose 0.2 percent (344 units) to 212,420 trailers and containers.
For just the week ended December 30, 2006, the AAR reported the following totals for U.S. railroads: 268,354 carloads, down 5.2 percent (14,795 carloads) from the corresponding week in 2005, with loadings down 13.3 percent in the East and up 0.3 percent in the West; intermodal volume of 172,991 trailers and containers, down 3.2 percent (5,643 units); and total volume of an estimated 27.6 billion ton-miles, down 3.8 percent from the equivalent week last year. The last week of the year is always one of the lowest volume weeks of the year for U.S. freight railroads.
For Canadian railroads during the week ended December 30, the AAR reported volume of 54,025 carloads, down 7.7 percent (4,517 carloads) from the previous year, and 30,718 trailers and containers, up 2.9 percent (865 units) from the corresponding week in 2005.
Combined cumulative rail volume for 2006 on 15 reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 21,224,558 carloads, up 0.7 percent (140,278 carloads) from 2005, and 14,639,199 trailers and containers, up 5.0 percent (702,920 units) from 2005.