Intermodal Traffic Grows for Week
Intermodal rail traffic jumped 20.5% last week compared with a year ago, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday.
Traffic totaled 227,229 trailers and containers for the week ended Saturday, though that level was 1.1% lower than the same week two years ago.
Containers gained 22.1% to 193,091 units, while trailers rose 12.3% to 34,138 units, AAR said in its weekly report.
Freight rail traffic, which excludes intermodal traffic, rose 11.4% to 284,716 carloads.
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.
