North American Rail Traffic Fell 1.2% in Week Ended May 18

By Colin Kellaher

North American rail traffic fell 1.2% last week, as a decline in intermodal volume more than offset gains in carloads, the Association of American Railroads said.

Carload volume for the week ended May 18 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads rose 1.9%, but intermodal traffic fell 4.3%, the trade group said.

North American rail traffic was 2.5% lower in the week ended May 11. For the first 20 weeks of the year, North American volume is down 1.3%.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic fell 1.8% last week as the volume of intermodal containers and trailers fell 5.5%. U.S. carloads rose 2.2% for the week, paced by a 7.3% rise in carloads of coal, the biggest of 10 commodity groups tracked.

U.S. rail traffic is down 2% for the year to date, the AAR said.

The group said rail traffic rose 0.6% in Canada last week, with a 2.7% rise in carloads trumping a 1.8% decline in intermodal units.

Rail traffic slipped 0.4% in Mexico last week, as a 6% rise in intermodal units wasn't enough to overcome a 5.2% drop in carloads.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 22, 2019 12:33 ET (16:33 GMT)

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