Intermodal Rail Traffic Rises for 14th Consecutive Week
Intermodal rail volume for the week ended Oct. 5 rose 6.2%, from the same period last year, the 14th consecutive rise, the Association of American Railroads reported.
Traffic increased to 266,580 trailers and containers, AAR said in its weekly report.
Rail carload traffic dipped 1.6% to 279,128 year-over-year, the rail trade group said.
Seven of the 10 carload commodity groups tracked by AAR posted increases, led by motor vehicles and parts, which increased 12.3%. Commodities showing a decrease included coal, which fell 11.4%.
For the first 40 weeks of the year, U.S. railroads moved 9.8 million intermodal containers and trailers, up 3.7% from last year. Carload traffic dipped 0.9% to 11.2 million units.
Total North American rail volume for the 40 weeks of 2013 for the 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 14,974,758 carloads, down 0.1 percent compared with the same point last year, and 12,362,840 trailers and containers, up 3.7 percent compared with last year.
