Intermodal, Rail Carload Traffic Rise for Week

Intermodal traffic on U.S. railroads rose 5%, while carload traffic rose 1.2% during the week ending July 16 when compared with the same week last year, according to the weekly rail report by the Association of American Railroads.

Intermodal volume totaled 226,580 trailers and containers, with containers up 8% and trailers down 3.6%, AAR reported.

American railroads hauled 321,887 carloads of freight during the week, with loadings up 3.6% in the West but down 1.9% in the East, AAR reported.

Nine of 19 carload commodities were up from last year, AAR reported, with farm products other than grain up 26.8%, grain mill products up 15.8%, motor vehicles and equipment up 13.8% and grain up 10.1%. Coal increased 2.2%, while coal coke fell 19% and nonmetallic minerals declined 18.3%, AAR reported.

Total volume was estimated at 31.6 billion ton-miles, a 1.9% increase over the same week last year, AAR reported. A ton mile is a unit of freight transportation equivalent to a ton of freight moved one mile.

AAR said its study includes railroads that account for 87% of the U.S. carload freight and 96% of rail intermodal volume.