North American Rail Traffic Fell 0.6% in Week Ended April 13

By Colin Kellaher

North American rail volume of carloads and intermodal units fell 0.6% last week as declines in the U.S. and Mexico more than offset gains in Canada, the Association of American Railroads said Wednesday.

Carload volume for the week ended April 13 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads rose 0.1%, while intermodal traffic fell 1.3%, the trade group said.

North American rail traffic was also 0.6% lower in the week ended April 6. For the first 15 weeks of the year, North American volume is down 1.2%.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic fell 1.2% last week. Carloads rose 1%, helped by a 38.7% rise in shipments of petroleum and petroleum products, while intermodal traffic fell 3.2%.

U.S. rail traffic is down 1.8% for the year to date, the AAR said.

The group said rail traffic rose 4.5% in Canada last week, paced by increased grain and petroleum shipments and a 10.2% rise in intermodal units.

Traffic fell 12.6% in Mexico for the week ended April 13, with double-digit declines across most product categories.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 17, 2019 12:55 ET (16:55 GMT)

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