AAR: All 10 U.S. commodity groups posted traffic gains last week

For the week ending Oct. 4, U.S. railroads reported 299,674 carloads, up 7.4 percent, and 276,682 intermodal units, up 3.7 percent compared with volumes from the same week last year, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Total combined weekly traffic rose 5.6 percent to 576,356 units as all 10 commodity groups tracked by the AAR posted gains, led by petroleum and petroleum products at 26.9 percent, forest products at 10.9 percent and coal at 8.9 percent.

Through 2014’s first 40 weeks, U.S. railroads logged 11,622,497 carloads, up 3.6 percent, and 10,354,012 intermodal units, up 5.5 percent year over year.

For the week ending Oct. 4, Canadian railroads reported 87,873 carloads, up 0.4 percent, and 57,996 intermodal units, down 2.6 percent compared with the same 2013 period. Through 40 weeks, their carload volume ratcheted up 1.3 percent to 3,190,125 units and intermodal volume climbed 6.8 percent to 2,290,364 units.

For the week ending Oct. 4, Mexican railroads reported 17,955 carloads, up 22.8 percent, and 12,663 intermodal units, up 10.8 percent year over year. Through 40 weeks, their carloads increased 2.2 percent to 627,076 units and intermodal volume rose 4.4 percent to 421,175 units.

Through 40 weeks, 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads handled 15,439,698 carloads, up 3.1 percent, and 13,065,551 containers and trailers, up 5.7 percent compared with the same 2013 period.