(The Association of American Railroads issued the following news release on November 3.)
WASHINGTON — Freight traffic was mixed on U.S. railroads during October, with intermodal traffic up but carload freight off slightly, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.
Intermodal volume of 987,899 trailers and containers was the most ever in a single month and was also up 6.3 percent (58,702 units) from last year. U.S. railroads also originated 1,334,004 carloads of freight in October 2005, down 38,718 carloads (2.8 percent) from October 2004.
Five of the 19 major commodity categories tracked by the AAR saw U.S. carload increases in October 2005 compared to October 2004, and four of the top six highest volume intermodal weeks in history were in October 2005.
Commodities seeing carload increases on U.S. railroads in October include food products (up 1,521 carloads, or 4.5 percent, to 35,536 carloads) and grain mill products (up 1,109 carloads, or 3.0 percent, to 38,431 carloads). Commodities seeing carload declines in October include chemicals (down 10,140 carloads, or 8.3 percent, to 111,682 carloads), nonmetallic minerals (down 6,052 carloads, or 18.4 percent, to 26,847 carloads), and coal (down 5,871 carloads, or 1.1 percent, to 534,718 carloads).
For the first 10 months of 2005, total U.S. rail carloads were up 146,298 carloads (1.0 percent) to 14,330,739 carloads, as year-over-year increases in coal (up 98,082 carloads, or 1.7 percent), crushed stone, sand, and gravel (up 70,560 carloads, or 7.8 percent), and grain mill products (up 20,478 carloads, or 5.3 percent), among other categories, offset declines in motor vehicles and equipment (down 28,499 carloads, or 2.9 percent) and waste and scrap materials (down 25,211 carloads, or 5.7 percent), among others. For the year to date, 13 of the 19 major commodity categories tracked by the AAR saw carload gains for U.S. railroads.
“Residual effects of the hurricanes in Texas and the Gulf Coast, heavy rains in Kansas that washed out key tracks and damaged bridges, and other weather-related problems negatively affected rail traffic in October,” said AAR Vice President Craig F. Rockey. “Railroads have worked hard to restore all parts of their network to full service so they can continue to meet the transportation needs of their customers as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.”
U.S. intermodal traffic, which consists of trailers and containers on flat cars and is not included in carload figures, totaled 9,645,435 units in 2005 through October, up 571,298 units (6.3 percent) from the first ten months of 2004. U.S. rail intermodal traffic will almost certainly set another annual record in 2005, the fourth straight year this will have occurred.
Total volume for the first ten months of 2005 was estimated at 1.40 trillion ton-miles, up 2.6 percent from last year.
Canadian rail carload traffic was down 10,638 carloads (3.3 percent) in October 2005 to 313,667 carloads. In October, Canadian carloads of grain were up 1,558 carloads (4.3 percent) to 38,194 carloads, while carloads of chemicals were down 3,002 carloads (5.0 percent) to 56,497 carloads and carloads of coal were down 2,031 carloads (5.9 percent) to 32,138 carloads.
In 2005 through October, Canadian carloadings were down 25,546 carloads (0.8 percent) to 3,268,824 carloads, with coal up 13,048 carloads (3.6 percent) to 372,038 carloads and farm products excluding grain up 11,628 carloads (16.7 percent) to 81,430 carloads. Traffic levels for the first 10 months of 2005 for Canadian railroads were up for 9 of the 19 major commodity categories tracked by the AAR.
Canadian intermodal traffic of 188,741 trailers and containers in October 2005 was up 10,678 units (6.0 percent) compared with October 2004. For the first 10 months of 2005, Canadian intermodal traffic totaled 1,856,388 units, up 3.2 percent (57,243 units) from 2004.
Carloads originated on Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM), a major Mexican railroad, were down 5,240 carloads (14.0 percent) in October 2005 to 32,292 carloads, while intermodal originations of 16,381 units were down 1,469 units (8.2 percent). For the first ten months of 2005, TFM carloadings were down 14,229 carloads (3.8 percent) to 360,241 carloads, while intermodal traffic was up 4,058 units (2.5 percent) to 165,419 units.
For just the week ended October 29, the AAR reported the following totals for U.S. railroads: 337,882 carloads, down 1.9 percent from the corresponding week in 2004, with loadings down 2.8 percent in the East and down 1.2 percent in the West; intermodal volume of 243,248 trailers and containers, up 3.1 percent and the sixth highest weekly total ever; and total rail traffic volume of an estimated 34.8 billion ton-miles, even with the equivalent week last year.
For Canadian railroads during the week ended October 29, the AAR reported volume of 79,824 carloads, down 1.6 percent from last year; and 49,353 trailers and containers, up 9.2 percent from the corresponding week in 2004.
Combined cumulative rail volume for the first 43 weeks of 2005 on 13 reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 17,599,563 carloads, up 0.7 percent (120,752 carloads) from last year, and 11,501,823 trailers and containers, up 5.8 percent (628,541 units) from 2004’s first 43 weeks.