U.S. railroads continued to net traffic gains in July's last full week

For the week ending July 26, U.S. railroads logged 306,988 carloads, up 4.3 percent, and 264,809 intermodal units, up 3.3 percent compared with volumes from same week last year, according to the Association of American Railroads.

Total combined U.S. traffic rose 3.8 percent to 571,797 units and nine of 10 commodity groups posted gains, led by motor vehicles and parts at 20.3 percent, petroleum and petroleum products at 19.2 percent, metallic ores and metals at 17.2 percent, and grain at 16.1 percent. Coal volume declined 5.7 percent.

For the week ending July 26, Canadian railroads reported 82,266 carloads, up 6.8 percent, and 61,032 intermodal units, up 12.6 percent year over year. Mexican railroads' weekly carloads climbed 10.1 percent to 17,141 units and their intermodal volume increased 6.6 percent to 11,481 units.

Through 2014's first 30 weeks, 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads handled 11,443,288 carloads, up 3 percent, and 9,645,502 containers and trailers, up 5.9 percent compared with the same 2013 period.

For the remainder of 2014, U.S. rail traffic might get a boost from chemical production, which was strong in April, May and June. The U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index continued to expand in June, rising by 0.3 percent, and chemical output was higher in all regions, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC).

"Within the manufacturing sector, output in many key chemistry end-use markets expanded, including appliances, motor vehicles, aerospace, construction supplies, machinery, fabricated metal products, computers, semiconductors, plastic products, rubber products, plywood, printing, paper and furniture," ACC officials said in a press release.