WASHINGTON — Reflecting another week in which intermodal traffic showed a double-digit decline from the same week a year earlier, overall U.S. rail traffic was down 6.3% for the week ending March 4, 2023.
Total rail traffic was 474,191 carloads and intermodal units. That included 237,413 carloads, down 1%, and 236,778 containers and trailers, down 11.1% from the corresponding week in 2022. It is at least the fourth week so far this year when intermodal traffic has been down 10% or more compared to the same week a year earlier. The weekly figure has been below its 2022 counterpart every week this year.
Through nine weeks of 2023, carload traffic is up 0.1% while intermodal traffic is down 8.6% for an overall decline of 4.5%.
North American volume for the week, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads, was 341,889 carloads, up 1.9%; 311,197 intermodal units, down 10.4%, and a total of 653,086 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.4%. The North American total volume through nine weeks of 2023 is down 2.5% compared to the same period in 2022.
