North American Rail Traffic Rose 1.6% in Week Ended Oct. 24

By Colin Kellaher

North American rail traffic rose 1.6% last week, marking a fourth straight weekly increase, amid strong intermodal volume and shipments of grain, data from the Association of American Railroads showed.

Carload volume fell 5.1% for the week ended Oct. 24 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads despite a 21.3% rise in grain traffic, while intermodal traffic rose 8%, the trade group said Wednesday.

In the week ended Oct. 17, North American rail traffic rose 2.6%. For the first 43 weeks of the year, North American traffic is now down 9%, compared with a year-to-date decline of 9.2% reported a week earlier.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic rose 1.9% last week, as a 9.4% rise in the volume of intermodal containers and trailers more than offset a 6.5% drop in carloads. U.S. rail traffic is now down 9.6% for the year to date, the AAR said, compared with a decline of 9.8% reported a week ago.

Canadian rail traffic rose 4.6% last week, with intermodal units up 12.4% and carloads down 2.1%. Canadian rail traffic is down 6.4% for the first 43 weeks of the year.

Mexican rail traffic remained negative last week, falling 13.1%, as a 26.5% plunge in intermodal units more than offset a 0.1% rise in carloads. Mexican rail traffic is down 10.8% for the year so far, the AAR said.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 28, 2020 13:04 ET (17:04 GMT)

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