WASHINGTON — U.S. railroads experienced their biggest single-week traffic drop of the year, compared to the comparable week in 2022, with overall traffic down 7.6% for the week ending March 11, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads.
Intermodal traffic — at 229,383 containers and trailers, down 13% from the corresponding week in 2022 — accounted for most of the decline. The 229,246 carloads represented a 1.5% drop. The overall total was 458,629 carloads and intermodal units.
Through 10 weeks of 2023, U.S. carload traffic is down 0.1%, while intermodal traffic is down 9%, for an overall decrease of 4.8% and a weekly average of 462,617 carloads and intermodal units.
North American traffic, for 12 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads, included 330,767 carloads, up 1%, and 303,627 intermodal units, down 12.7%. The combined volume of 634,394 carloads and intermodal units represented a 6.1% decline from the same week in 2022. Year-to-date traffic for North America is down 2.9% from the first 10 weeks of 2022.
A leading recession indicator has been for several of the last down turns rail shipment decline.
PSR is doing what it does best, driving rail traffic to the highways.
Yeah and the economy is thriving according to the presidential teleprompter script. Don’t quit your day job. Railroad wreck cleanup companies re on a hiring spree.
Good one….