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Thirteen truly was an unlucky number for U.S. railroads. In the year’s 13th week ending April 4, they encountered bad weather in Wyoming and the upper Midwest, and continued to deal with a bad economy.

Those factors combined to drive down carloads 20.5 percent to 262,624 units and hold down intermodal volume 14.7 percent to 184,845 units compared with traffic from 2008’s 13th week, according Association of American Railroads data.

In Canada, railroads reported weekly volume of 61,294 carloads, down 25.7 percent, and 39,663 intermodal loads, down 17.4 percent year over year. Mexican railroads reported weekly carloads totaling11,728 units, down 41.3 percent, and intermodal volume totaling 5,045 units, down 43 percent.

For more traffic data — including cumulative volumes through 13 weeks — follow this link.