For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 499,732 carloads and intermodal units, down 8% compared with the same week last year.
Total carloads for the week ending Jan. 18 were 237,394 carloads, down 8.4% compared with the same week in 2019, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 262,338 containers and trailers, down 7.7% compared to 2019.
Three of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2019. They were miscellaneous carloads, up 903 carloads, to 10,242; metallic ores and metals, up 827 carloads, to 21,616; and chemicals, up 649 carloads, to 32,478. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2019 included coal, down 17,651 carloads, to 70,388; grain, down 3,631 carloads, to 19,373; and petroleum and petroleum products, down 978 carloads, to 12,730.
For the first three weeks of 2020, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 692,077 carloads, down 7.4% from the same point last year; and 723,293 intermodal units, down 8.1% from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first three weeks of 2020 was 1,415,370 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 7.8% compared to last year.
North American rail volume for the week ending Jan. 18, 2020, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads totaled 327,670 carloads, down 9.6% compared with the same week last year, and 342,771 intermodal units, down 8.1% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 670,441 carloads and intermodal units, down 8.8%. North American rail volume for the first three weeks of 2020 was 1,930,076 carloads and intermodal units, down 7.2% compared with 2019.
Canadian railroads reported 69,368 carloads for the week, down 18.3%, and 61,451 intermodal units, down 13.3% compared with the same week in 2019. For the first three weeks of 2020, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 412,161 carloads, containers and trailers, down 7.2%.
Mexican railroads reported 20,908 carloads for the week, up 12.7% compared with the same week last year, and 18,982 intermodal units, up 7.7%. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first three weeks of 2020 was 102,545 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, up 0.4% from the same point last year.
— From an Association of American Railroads news release. Jan. 22, 2020.
By the law of precision scheduled railroading reduced traffic calls for a price hike. After all prices can go up forever. Right?
Maybe to put this into perspective I would like to see the figures for long haul truckers. If they are down then it is overall economy, if they are stable or up then it would be the totally incompetent railway management
A successful charity search engine
This is no longer news. Maybe tell us about the decline annually?
SCHOLARSHIP AMERICA
I’d like to see all traffic, minus coal, compared to, say, 2005.
I see why coal (cheap natural gas) and intermodal (widened Panama Canal) are down, but why is grain? Maybe exports to China have been reduced?
Truckers working within they know Coal is about gone and its the best time to bankrupt railroads.