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Two major eastern snowstorms put the kibosh on U.S. railroads’ weekly traffic gains from late January into early February. During the week ending Feb. 13, their carloads dropped 8.1 percent to 257,823 units compared with traffic from the same week last year, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR). Total volume declined 7 percent to an estimated 28.1 billion ton-miles.

In the East — where carloads tumbled 16.1 percent — CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. experienced severe weather-related delays “upwards of 48 hours,” said Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. analysts in their weekly “Rail Flash” report.

However, U.S. roads’ intermodal traffic weathered the snowstorms by inching up 0.5 percent year over year to 192,354 units.

For the week ending Feb. 13, Canadian railroads reported 69,954 carloads, up 4.8 percent, and 42,560 containers and trailers, down 1.6 percent year over year. Mexican railroads reported 14,370 carloads, up 28.1 percent, and 6,602 intermodal loads, up 17.3 percent.

For more AAR traffic data for the week ending Feb. 13 and through 2010’s first six weeks, follow this link.