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Rail News Home Rail Industry Trends

5/29/2025



Rail News: Rail Industry Trends

U.S. freight-rail traffic inches up 0.7% in Week 21


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U.S. freight railroads moved 488,709 carloads and intermodal units in the week ending May 24, a 0.7% increase compared with traffic levels in the same week in 2024, according to Association of American Railroads data.

The number of carloads totaled 226,091, up 3.8%, while intermodal volume totaled 262,618 containers and trailers, down 1.8%.

Five of the 10 carload commodity groups that AAR tracks every week posted increases. They included coal, up 12.1% to 56,416 carloads; miscellaneous, up 19.3% to 10,537; and nonmetallic minerals, up 3.5% to 32,051.

Commodity groups that posted decreases included petroleum and petroleum products, down 6.9% to 10,559 carloads; chemicals, down 1.1% to 33,088; and forest products, down 2.9% carloads to 8,343.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads logged 87,174 carloads for the week, up 2.9%, and 72,688 intermodal units, up 2.6%. Mexican railroads reported 17,201 carloads, up 26.3%, and 10,039 intermodal units, up 4.5%.

For the first 21 weeks of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024:
• U.S. railroads reported 10,280,643 carloads and intermodal units up 4.9;
• Canadian railroads logged 3,407,247 carloads, containers and trailers, up 0.7%; and
• Mexican railroads posted 485,253 carloads and intermodal units, down 10.1%.



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