WASHINGTON — While U.S. rail freight traffic continues to far outdistance 2020 volume, which was depressed at this time a year ago because of shutdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, it also continues to show week-to-week improvement in 2021.
The latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads show U.S. railroads moved 240,075 carloads in the week ending April 24, along with 298,109 trailers and containers, for a total of 538,184 carloads and intermodal units. Those figures represent increases of 25%, 34.3%, and 30%, respectively, over the numbers for the same week in 2020. Every carload group showed increases, with eight of the 10 categories showing increases of better than 12%.
The traffic figures also represent slight increases over the numbers for the week ending April 17, 2021, when railroads moved 237,607 carloads, 295,610 intermodal units, and 533,217 total carloads and units.
Other figures for the week ending April 24 show North American volume for the 12 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads up 24.8% for the week and up 8.4% for the year to date. For Canadian railroads, carload traffic was up 8.6% and intermodal traffic increased 2.3% over the same week in 2020.
