Intermodal Traffic Falls for Week

Rail traffic in the week ended Saturday increased compared with the same week a year ago, but intermodal traffic slipped, the Association of American Railroads said.

Rail intermodal volume fell 0.8% year-over-year to 244,060 trailers and containers, AAR said in its weekly report Thursday.

Container volume dipped 0.3%, while trailer volume fell 4.5%, according to AAR.

Overall rail carload traffic totaled 342,929 carloads, up 5.1% from a year ago, the group said.

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.