(The Association of American Railroads issued the following news release on February 3.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. rail carload traffic fell 0.7 percent (9,576 carloads) while U.S. rail intermodal traffic rose 7.4 percent (57,796 trailers and containers) in January 2005 compared with January 2004, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.
On the carload side, commodities with significant gains in January 2005 included crushed stone, sand, and gravel (up 6,125 carloads, or 8.6 percent); metallic ores (up 3,841 carloads, or 8.5 percent); and coal (up 2,720 carloads, or 0.5 percent). Commodities with carload declines in January 2005 included grain (down 5,425 carloads, or 5.6 percent), waste and scrap material (down 3,740 carloads, or 9.2 percent); and grain mill products (down 2,084 carloads, or 5.5 percent).
Intermodal — the movement of truck trailers or containers on rail cars — accounts for approximately 23 percent of U.S. Class I rail revenue. Over the past 10 years, it has been the fastest growing major segment of the U.S. freight rail industry. In January 2005, the trailer component of intermodal was up 5.2 percent (10,514 units), while containers were up 8.2 percent (47,282 units).
Total volume for the first four weeks of 2005 was estimated at 119.6 billion ton-miles, down 0.1 percent from January 2004.
“Even under the best of circumstances, freight railroading is extremely demanding. Throw in torrential rain and mudslides, blizzards and bitter cold — as we had in January in different parts of the country — and maintaining fluid operations becomes that much more difficult,” noted AAR Vice President Craig F. Rockey. “That railroads moved as much traffic as they did in January is a credit to the hard work of rail labor and management.”
Canadian rail carload traffic was up 0.1 percent (235 carloads) and Canadian intermodal traffic was down 1.1 percent (1,731 units) in January 2005 compared with January 2004. Grain traffic on Canadian carriers was up 6.1 percent (1,991 carloads); carloads of metallic ores were up 14.6 percent (1,405 carloads). On the down side, carloads of farm products excluding grain were down 33.3 percent (1,597 carloads), motor vehicles and equipment were down 5.1 percent (1,436 carloads), and carloads of coal were down 4.8 percent (1,391 carloads).
Carloads originated on Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM), a major Mexican railroad, totaled 33,178 in January 2005, up 3.8 percent (1,211 carloads), while intermodal originations of 14,540 units were up 24.2 percent (2,830 trailers and containers).
For just the week ended January 29, the AAR reported the following totals for U.S. railroads: 326,054 carloads, up 2.1 percent from the corresponding week in 2004, with loadings up 1.3 percent in the East and up 2.8 percent in the West; intermodal volume of 212,766 trailers and containers, up 8.1 percent; and total volume of an estimated 30.3 billion ton-miles, up 3.1 percent from the equivalent week last year.
For Canadian railroads during the week ended January 29, the AAR reported volume of 64,633 carloads, up 11.9 percent from last year; and 41,215 trailers and containers, up 11.3 percent from the corresponding week in 2004.
Combined cumulative volume for the first four weeks of 2005 on 15 reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 1,543,719 carloads, down 0.6 percent (9,341 carloads) from last year; and 996,373 trailers and containers, up 6.4 percent (59,527 trailers and containers) from 2004’s first four weeks.