U.S. rail carload and intermodal volumes are down for week ending January 6, reports AAR

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week that United States rail carload and intermodal traffic was down annually for the week ending January 6.

Carloads dropped 5.2% to 208,646. And only one of the 10 carload commodity groups tracked by the AAR, petroleum and petroleum products, was up, rising 741 carloads, to 9,640. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2017 included coal, down 4,554 carloads, to 69,973; nonmetallic minerals, down 2,159 carloads, to 21,872; and grain, down 1,924 carloads, to 19,638.

Intermodal containers and trailers fell 3.9% annually to 207,216.

The AAR recently reported that volumes both saw rebounds in 2017 compared to 2016, according to data issued this week by the Association for American Railroads (AAR).

2017 U.S. carloads increased 2.9%, or 381,266 carloads, annually to 13,478,126, compared to 2016’s 13,096,860.

Intermodal containers and trailers headed up 3.9%, or 521,121 units, annually to 14,011,834 for the highest annual tally ever recorded for the segment, AAR said. This output topped the previous annual high for intermodal of 13,710,662, which was set in 2015.