WASHINGTON — The continued upswing in grain traffic is helping reduce the drop in U.S. carload rail traffic, while intermodal strength continues to lift overall volume above 2019 levels in the latest weekly statistics released by the Association of American Railroads.
For the week ending Dec. 12, the total of 238,193 carloads was 2.2% below the same week in 2019, with grain up 36.6% at 28,390 carloads. U.S. railroads moved 308,016 total intermodal units, an increase of 11.1% over year-ago levels, bringing total traffic to 546,209 carloads and intermodal units, a 4.9% increase. Year-to-date totals have total traffic down 7.8%, with intermodal down 2.6% and total carloads down 13.3%
For the 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads, overall volume was 783,436 intermodal units and carloads, up 4.5%, with the 344,932 carloads representing a 0.2% decline and the 398,504 intermodal units representing a 9% increase.
