Rail, Intermodal Traffic Continue to Fall

Rail and intermodal traffic continued their weeks-long decline last week, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday.

Intermodal traffic fell 21.7% compared with the same week a year ago, to 175,228 units for the week ended Saturday. Containers volumes fell 18.4% and trailers fell 33.2%.

Rail carload traffic fell 15.8% to 283,532 units, AAR said in its weekly report Thursday.

For the month of February, intermodal traffic fell 18.7% compared with last year, to 726,343 units, AAR said. Rail carload traffic declined 14.5% to 1,109,035 carloads in the same period.

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.