AAR weekly rail traffic report shows a drop from last year

The Association of American Railroads' (AAR) most recent weekly report on U.S. rail traffic puts total traffic at 553,144 intermodal units and carloads for the week that ended Oct. 24, a decrease of 5.6 percent when compared to the same period in 2014.

For the week, total carloads amounted to 284,523, a decrease of 7.4 percent when compared to the same week last year. Compared to 2014, U.S. weekly intermodal volume declined by 3.7 percent, totaling 268,621 trailers and containers.

Weekly increases in 3 of the 10 carload commodity groups were reported when compared to the same time last year. Grain rose to 25,301 carloads (13 percent), miscellaneous carloads rose to 8,972 carloads (2.6 percent) and motor vehicles and parts increase by 18,984 carloads (9.9 percent).

Some commodity groups reported declines when compared to the same time period last year. These were metallic ores and metals (21,759 carloads, a decrease of 18.5 percent), petroleum and petroleum products (13,273 carloads, a decline of 21.7 percent) and coal (100,829 carloads, amounting to a 12.7 percent decline).