Rail Volumes for Week Rise, Intermodal Falls, AAR Says

August 9, 2007 12:30 PM, EDT

Rail carload traffic rose slightly compared with a year ago for the week ended Saturday, while intermodal volumes declined, the Association of American Railroads said.

Rail intermodal volume slipped 1.6% to 237,850 trailers and containers, AAR said in its weekly report. Container volume gained 1.7%, while trailer volume dropped 12.3%.

Rail carload traffic totaled 338,386 cars, up 1.2% 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.