Weekly Intermodal Traffic Rises 3.5%
Intermodal volume rose 3.5% for the week ended Aug. 24 from the same week a year ago, the Association of American Railroads reported.
Traffic increased to 257,080 trailers and containers, AAR said in its weekly report.
Rail carload traffic declined 1.7% to 291,889 year-over-year, the rail trade group said.
Six of the 10 carload commodity groups tracked by AAR posted increases, led by petroleum products, which jumped 15.3%. Commodities showing a decrease included grain, which fell 15.3%.
For the first 34 weeks of the year, U.S. railroads moved 8.2 million intermodal containers and trailers, up 3.5% from last year. Carload traffic dipped 1.2% to 9.5 million units.
Railroad volume is considered an important economic indicator. Intermodal traffic, which tends to be higher-valued merchandise than bulk commodities, uses trains for the longhaul and trucks for the shorter distance at either end of the trip.
