Intermodal Traffic Continues Upward Trend
Intermodal traffic increased 16.9% last week from a year earlier, the Association of American Railroads said.
Traffic for the week ended Saturday totaled 240,013 trailers and containers, led by an 18.8% jump in containers to 205,532 units. Trailers rose 6.5% to 34,481 units.
Overall intermodal traffic was 2.4% higher than the same week in 2008, led by containers, which rose 11.4%. Trailers were down 30.8% from two years ago.
U.S. railroads originated 304,679 carloads for the week, up 8.1% higher than a year ago but down 2.4% from 2008, AAR said in its weekly report.
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.
