Association of American Railroads releases weekly rail traffic report

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) recently released its report on weekly U.S. rail traffic for the first nine months of the year and for Sept. 2015; according to the report, September’s carload traffic amounted to 1,417,750, which is a decrease of 4.9 percent, or 72,597, compared to Sept. 2014, while U.S. railroads originated approximately 1,365,980 trailers and containers in Sept. 2015, an increase of 1.2 percent compared to Sept. 2014.

Compared to September of last year, combined U.S. intermodal and carload originations amounted to just 2,783,739, which is a decrease of two percent for Sept. 2015.

Six out of 20 carload commodity categories showed carload gains for Sept. 2015. Grain rose by 14.4 percent (13,447 carloads), motor vehicles and parts increased by 4.9 percent (4,239 carloads) and miscellaneous carloads rose by 33.1 percent (8,057 carloads).

In contrast, commodities that declined included coal (down by 8.2 percent), petroleum and related products (reduced by 15.6 percent) and primary metal products (decreased by 18.9 percent).

"Once again, U.S. rail traffic in September was down mainly because of declines in carloads related to energy and steel," John T. Gray, AAR senior vice president of policy and economics, said. "Intermodal continues to do well while results vary for other commodity categories. As we head into the fall shipping season, railroads are confident they will be able to handle reliably and safely the traffic their customers send their way. Now, we just need a bit more cooperation from the economy."