Intermodal Traffic Rises 18.5% for Week
A week after its first decline in a year, intermodal traffic rose 18.5% last week from a year ago, the Association of American Railroads reported.
Traffic rose to 228,035 units for the week ended Saturday, led by an 18.7% gain in containers from the same week last year, to 193,085 units. Trailers rose 18% to 34,950 units.
Railroad carloads rose 6.2% to 274,043 carloads, AAR said in its weekly report.
A huge winter storm that disrupted rail and truck traffic throughout much of the country earlier this month caused the first downturn in intermodal traffic in a year, in a year-to-year comparison.
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.
