Rail, Intermodal Fall for Week
Rail carload and intermodal freight fell for the week ended Saturday compared with a year ago, the Association of American Railroads said.
Rail intermodal volume fell 1% to 235,682 trailers and containers, AAR said in its weekly report.
Container volume rose 1.9%, but trailer volume plunged 10.7%. Rail carloads fell by 4.7%.
The declines were the 11th straight for intermodal and the 10th carload downturn in the past 11 weeks, according to AAR figures.
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.
