AAR: Last week's U.S. intermodal volume reached third-highest mark in history

For the week ending Oct. 25, U.S. railroads reported 307,348 carloads, up 3.5 percent, and 278,767 intermodal units, up 6.7 percent compared with volumes from the same week last year, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR).

The weekly intermodal volume was the third-highest on record, AAR officials said in a press release. Total combined U.S. traffic rose 5 percent to 586,115 units and seven of 10 carload commodity groups posted gains, led by petroleum and petroleum products at 20 percent, and nonmetallic minerals at 8.9 percent.

Through 2014’s first 43 weeks, U.S. railroads registered 12,525,351 carloads, up 3.6 percent, and 11,179,260 intermodal units, up 5.5 percent compared with the same 2013 period.

For the week ending Oct. 25, Canadian railroads reported 90,312 carloads, up 16.1 percent, and 59,272 intermodal units, up 12.1 percent year over year. Mexican railroads’ weekly carloads rose 5.8 percent to 16,454 units and their intermodal volume climbed 8.5 percent to 12,135 units.

Through 43 weeks, 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads handled 16,661,595 carloads, up 3.2 percent, and 14,104,388 containers and trailers, up 5.6 percent compared with the same 2013 period.