The Association of American Railroads (AAR) recently published its U.S. rail traffic report for the week ended Feb. 6.
Last week, cumulative U.S. weekly rail traffic totaled 504,510 intermodal units and carloads, a decline of 1.4 percent compared with the same week in 2015.
The total amount of carloads for last week stands at 241,680, a decline of 11.7 percent compared with 2015. The U.S. weekly intermodal volume totaled 262,830 trailers and containers, an increase of 10.5 percent over the same week last year.
Out of the 10 carload commodity groups, four reported increases over the same week of last year. These include miscellaneous carloads (at 8,904, a rise of 20.4 percent), motor vehicles and parts (at 19,216 carloads, a rise of 24.6 percent) and grain (at 22,257 carloads, up 5 percent).
The remaining commodity groups reported decreases compared with last year. These include petroleum and related products (at 11,980 carloads, down 16.8 percent), coal (at 73,298 carloads, down 30.3 percent), and metallic ores and metals (at 18,737 carloads, down 8.7 percent).
The volume of carloads during the first five weeks of this year totaled 1,209,722, a 15.7 percent decline compared with the first five weeks of last year. Total intermodal units for the first five weeks stood at 1,302,451, increasing 4.8 percent compared with last year. Overall, combined U.S. traffic since the start of 2016 totaled 2,512,173 carloads and intermodal units, down 6.2 percent.
