WASHINGTON — Boosted by an increase of more than 20% in intermodal units, U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Dec. 26 showed an 8.4% increase over the same week in 2019.
The latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads show U.S. Class I railroads moved 220,082 intermodal units for the week, up 20.8%. The 185,029 carloads for the week were a decrease of 3.4%, with total carload and intermodal traffic of 405,111 units for the increase of 8.4%. Among carload commodities, grain was up 40.2% over the year-earlier totals and motor vehicles and parts were up 19.2%.
Year-to-date totals remain down across the board, with the exception of grain, which is up 4.5% over 2019. Overall, carloads are down 13% and intermodal units are down 2% for a total decrease of 7.4%.
North American totals for the 12 U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads reporting statistics have carloads down 1.8% and intermodal units up 16.8%, with the total combined weekly traffic of 560,067 carloads and intermodal units up 7%. The year-to-date total of 34,039,326 carloads and intermodal units is down 6.8%. In Canada, the 70,407 carloads for the week represented a decrease of 0.8% while 57,027 intermodal units represented an 8.1% increase.
