Rail Traffic Edges Up; Intermodal Traffic Drops

Overall rail traffic rose a notch, but intermodal levels fell from a year ago for the week ended Saturday, the Association of American Railroads said.

Rail intermodal volume dropped 2% year-over-year to 253,244 trailers and containers, AAR said in its weekly report Thursday.

Container volume was flat at 198,691 units, while trailer volume dropped 8.8% to 54,553 units. Overall rail carload traffic totaled 338,364 cars, an increase of 0.2% from a year ago, 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.