For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 555,127 carloads and intermodal units, up 8.4 percent compared with the same week last year.
Total carloads for the week ending Jan. 12 were 266,240 carloads, up 10.3 percent compared with the same week in 2018, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 288,887 containers and trailers, up 6.8 percent compared to 2018.
All of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2018. They included coal, up 11,218 carloads, to 87,228; metallic ores and metals, up 3,967 carloads, to 24,490; and petroleum and petroleum products, up 2,920 carloads, to 13,925.
For the first two weeks of 2019, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 487,999 carloads, up 8.4 percent from the same point last year; and 503,231 intermodal units, up 5.3 percent from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first two weeks of 2019 was 991,230 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 6.8-percent compared to last year.
North American rail volume for the week ending Jan. 12, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 370,475 carloads, up 10 percent compared with the same week last year, and 379,970 intermodal units, up 7.7 percent compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 750,445 carloads and intermodal units, up 8.8 percent. North American rail volume for the first two weeks of 2019 was 1,345,893 carloads and intermodal units, up 7.3 percent compared with 2018.
Canadian railroads reported 84,517 carloads for the week, up 13.3 percent, and 72,357 intermodal units, up 14.2 percent compared with the same week in 2018. For the first two weeks of 2019, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 287,738 carloads, containers and trailers, up 11.8 percent.
Mexican railroads reported 19,718 carloads for the week, down 5.6 percent compared with the same week last year, and 18,726 intermodal units, down 1 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first two weeks of 2019 was 66,925 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, down 3.6 percent from the same point last year.
— An Association of American Railroads news release.
Or put another way, 11,218÷115 car average train, for the sake of argument, is around 97 odd trains more a week versus 2018. Translates into 13.9 more trains per day, again for the sake of argument, divided evenly among the big 5 US roads ( I am not even counting CN or CP operations in the US for this). Works out to only an extra 2.78 trains a day per road. I doubt that qualifies as a coal comeback. Plus, how much of this is export traffic?
Robert Peterson,
Did not Mr. Rose say by 2150? That’s still 21 years off from now, so little blips like short term increases don’t necessarily mean he’s wrong.
Maybe coal isn’t going away without a fight Mr. Rose!