Intermodal Rail Volume Rises 6.7% in June
Intermodal rail volume for June rose 6.7% compared with the same time last year, the Association of American Railroads reported.
Intermodal volume rose to slightly above 1.08 million units in June, AAR said. The weekly average was the highest for any month on record at 269,346 units.
“All in all, June was another good month for rail traffic,” AAR Senior Vice President John Gray said in a statement.
“The fact that most categories of rail traffic were up in June, and that intermodal set a new volume record, supports the view that the economy is rebounding at a decent pace,” Gray said.
Second-quarter intermodal traffic increased 8% to 253,921 units, but the peak for intermodal traffic is generally the fall, and AAR said it expects more records to be set.
Seventeen of the 20 categories tracked by AAR posted increases in June from the prior year, led by crushed stone, sand and gravel (14.1%).
Intermodal volume for the week ended June 28 increased 6% to 264,766 year-over-year, the rail trade group said.
For the first 26 weeks of the year, U.S. railroads moved 7.5 million intermodal containers and trailers, up 3.2% from 2013.
