(The Association of American Railroads issued the following on February 8.)
WASHINGTON — Due largely to severe weather in much of the country and continued weakness in the housing and automotive sectors, U.S. rail carload traffic fell 6.8 percent (112,428 carloads) to 1,553,060 carloads in the first five weeks of 2007 compared with the first five weeks of 2006, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today. U.S. rail intermodal traffic fell 1.6 percent (18,542 trailers and containers) to 1,105,972 units in January.
On the carload side, U.S. rail traffic was down virtually across the board, with 17 of the 19 major commodity categories tracked by the AAR registering declines. Commodities showing the largest declines in January 2007 included motor vehicles and equipment (down 22,977 carloads, or 21.8 percent, to 82,309 carloads); crushed stone, sand, and gravel (down 19,875 carloads, or 18.7 percent, to 86,557 carloads); and coal (down 15,750 carloads, or 2.3 percent, to 682,294 carloads).
Intermodal — the movement of truck trailers or containers on rail cars — accounts for approximately 23 percent of U.S. Class I rail revenue. In January 2007, the trailer component of U.S. intermodal traffic was down 12.7 percent (35,033 units) to 239,979, while containers were up 1.9 percent (16,491 units) to 865,993.
Total volume for January was estimated at 157.6 billion ton-miles, down 5.6 percent from the same period last year.
“January rail traffic was lower than we would have liked to see, but railroading this month has been a tremendous challenge,” noted AAR Vice President Craig F. Rockey. “Railroads are hopeful that solid economic growth continues, and they are confident that the tens of billions of infrastructure and equipment investments they’ve made in recent years will continue to yield dependable, cost-effective service for their customers.”
Canadian rail carload traffic (which includes both the Canadian and U.S. operations of the two largest Canadian railroads) fell 14,821 carloads (3.9 percent) in January 2007 to 369,059 carloads, while Canadian intermodal traffic fell 1,032 units (0.5 percent) to 207,948 trailers and containers. Carloads of chemicals on Canadian carriers were up 8,899 carloads (13.3 percent) to 75,731 carloads in January, while carloads of metallic ores were down 4,559 carloads (7.3 percent) and carloads of lumber and wood products were down 4,531 carloads (19.6 percent).
Carloads carried on Kansas City Southern dé Mexico (formerly Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana – TFM), a major Mexican railroad, were down 7,232 carloads (12.8 percent) in January 2007 to 49,319 carloads, while intermodal units carried of 19,492 units were up 1,666 units (9.3 percent).
For just the week ended February 3, the AAR reported the following totals for U.S. railroads: 317,887 carloads, down 7.2 percent from the corresponding week in 2006, with loadings down 9.7 percent in the East and down 5.3 percent in the West; intermodal volume of 226,472 trailers and containers, down 2.4 percent; and total volume of an estimated 32.3 billion ton-miles, down 6.1 percent from the equivalent week last year.
For Canadian railroads during the week ended February 3, the AAR reported volume of 76,266 carloads, down 1.6 percent from last year; and 43,849 trailers and containers, up 2.1 percent from the corresponding week in 2006.
Combined cumulative volume for the first five weeks of 2007 on 13 reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 1,922,119 carloads, down 6.2 percent (127,249 carloads) from last year; and 1,313,920 trailers and containers, down 1.5 percent (19,574 trailers and containers) from 2006’s first five weeks.