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Rail, Intermodal Traffic Drop
Rail carload and intermodal freight traffic declined from a year ago for the week ended Saturday, continuing a trend this year, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday.
Rail intermodal volume fell 6.3% year-over-year to 237,928 trailers and containers, AAR said in its weekly report.
Container volume fell 4.5% to 188,128 units, while trailer volume dropped 12.7% to 49,800.
Rail carload traffic totaled 336,746 cars, down 1.4% from a year ago.
The volumes were the worst week this quarter, Bear Stearns analyst Ed Wolfe wrote in a note to clients Thursday.
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.
