The Association of American Railroads (AAR) published the latest data this week for U.S. rail traffic, covering the week ended Feb. 13.
Last week, cumulative U.S. weekly rail traffic totaled 505,148 intermodal units and carloads, a decline of 3.8 percent from the same week in 2015.
Intermodal units totaled 260,814 trailers and containers, an increase of 10.4 percent over last year. Carloads totaled 244,334, a decline of 15.4 percent compared with a year ago.
There were two carload commodity groups that reported rises compared with the same week last year: motor vehicles and parts (rising to 18,711, or by 12.6 percent) and miscellaneous carloads (rising to 9,406, or by 27.4 percent).
The remaining eight commodity groups reported declines compared with last year, including petroleum and related products (falling to 11,303 carloads, down 23.4 percent), coal (declining to 75,249 carloads, down 32.5 percent), and metallic ores and metals (falling to 19,196 carloads, or 15.4 percent).
During the first six weeks of this year, there has been a total of 1,454,056 carloads shipped, a 15.6 percent decrease compared with the first six weeks of last year. Also during this time, intermodal units totaled 1,563,265, up 5.7 percent, compared with the first six weeks of 2015.
