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Intermodal Traffic Falls Again
Decline Is Fourth Straight Year-Over-Year
Rail and intermodal traffic declined last week compared with a year earlier, continuing a trend over the past month, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday.
Intermodal volume fell 5.6% and carloads declined 4.9% for the week ended Saturday, AAR said in its weekly report. Both have fallen in four consecutive weeks in year-over-year comparisons.
AAR said last week’s figures were affected by Good Friday, normally a rail holiday, while the same week last year did not include Good Friday.
Intermodal volume declined to 218,992 trailers and containers for the week. Container volume fell 2.3%, while trailers plunged 15.5%.
AAR estimated total rail freight volume for the week was 32.8 billion ton-miles, down 3% from a year ago.
Railroad volume is considered an important economic indicator. Intermodal traffic, which tends to be higher-valued merchandise than bulk commodities, uses trains for the long haul and trucks for the shorter distance at either end of the trip.
