North American Rail Traffic Rose 7% in Week Ended Dec. 26

By Colin Kellaher

North American rail traffic rose 7% last week, powered by a jump of more than 20% in U.S. intermodal volume, data from the Association of American Railroads showed.

Carload volume slipped 1.8% for the week ended Dec. 26 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads, while intermodal traffic rose 16.8%, the trade group said Wednesday.

In the week ended Dec. 19, North American rail traffic rose 1.9%. For the first 52 weeks of the year, North American traffic is now down 6.8%, compared with a year-to-date decline of 7% reported a week earlier.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic rose 8.4% last week, as a 20.8% increase in the volume of intermodal containers and trailers more than offset a 3.4% decline in carloads. U.S. rail traffic is now down 7.4% for the year to date, the AAR said, compared with a decline of 7.6% reported a week ago.

Canadian rail traffic rose 3% last week amid a 0.8% decline in carloads and an 8.1% rise in intermodal volume. Canadian rail traffic is down 4.2% for the first 52 weeks of the year.

Mexican rail traffic rose 4.7% last week, as a 14.1% jump in carloads more than offset a 5.7% drop in intermodal units. Mexican rail traffic is down 9.6% for the year so far, the AAR said.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 30, 2020 12:44 ET (17:44 GMT)

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