Rail Intermodal Traffic Rises for Week, Says AAR

Weekly U.S. intermodal rail traffic rose 2.1% from the same period last year, the Association of American Railroads reported.

Intermodal traffic for the week ended Sept. 26 increased to 280,844 compared with the same week last year, AAR said Sept. 30 in its weekly report. The increase follows a 0.6% rise the prior week.

Rail carload volume for the week, which excludes intermodal units, dropped 5.4% year-over-year to 285,856 carloads.

Four of the 10 commodity groups AAR tracks increased for the week from the same time last year, including grain at 30.1% and miscellaneous carloads at 14%.

Total North American intermodal volume rose 2.4% to 358,121 units for the week. Canadian railroads moved 64,492 intermodal units, a 1.6% increase. Railroads in Mexico moved 13,785 intermodal containers, a 13.8% increase, according to AAR.

For the first 38 weeks of the year, U.S. intermodal traffic increased 2.5% to 10.13 million units from the same period in 2014.