Intermodal Traffic Rises for Week
Rail intermodal traffic rose 1.4% for the week ended Saturday compared with a year ago, the Association of American Railroads said.
The increase followed a 15.1% drop the previous week. Container traffic gained 2.4% to 166,616 units, while trailers fell 1.9% to 49,796, AAR said in its weekly report Thursday.
Overall rail carload traffic dipped 0.2% to 328,690 carloads, 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.
