News & Reviews News Wire U.S. rail traffic remains down as year’s end approaches

U.S. rail traffic remains down as year’s end approaches

By Trains Staff | December 29, 2022

| Last updated on February 7, 2024

Weekly carload and intermodal traffic remains well below 2021 figures

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Weekly table showing U.S. carload rail traffic by commodity type plus overall intermodal traffic
Association of American Railroads

WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic’s year-end slump continued in the week ending Dec. 24, with volume down 4.8% compared to the same week in 2021, according to the latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads.

The overall figure of 400,289 carloads and intermodal units included 193,195 carloads, down 4.1%, and 207,094 trailers, down 5.5%.

This week’s decline followed weekly drops of 2.5% for the week ending Dec. 10 and 5.5% for the week ending Dec. 17.

Year-to-date totals, through 51 weeks of 2022, show carload traffic down 0.1% and intermodal traffic off 4.9% for a total decline of 2.75.

North American figures for the week, for 12 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads, include 278,859 carloads, down 3.5% compared to the corresponding week in 2021; 268,287 intermodal units, down 6.7%, and total traffic of 547,146 carloads and intermodal units, down 5.1%. Year-to-date volume is down 1.9%.

2 thoughts on “U.S. rail traffic remains down as year’s end approaches

  1. These charts are always interesting to me but I do wonder if they take into account the various “Embargos” that UP and other big railroads have put into affect.

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