North American Rail Traffic Fell 5.5% in Week Ended Sept. 21

By Colin Kellaher

North American rail traffic fell 5.5% last week amid further steep declines in U.S. volumes, data from the Association of American Railroads showed.

Carload volume for the week ended Sept. 21 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads slid 6.7%, while intermodal traffic fell 4.3%, the trade group said Wednesday.

North American rail traffic was 3.3% lower in the week ended Sept. 14. For the first 38 weeks of the year, North American volume is now down 2.7%, compared with a year-to-date decline of 2.6% reported a week ago.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic tumbled 6.8% last week after falling 4.8% a week earlier. U.S. carloads fell 8% amid declines in nine of the 10 commodity groups tracked, including double-digit drops in grain and coal. The volume of U.S. intermodal containers and trailers fell 5.7% for the week.

U.S. rail traffic is now down 3.8% for the year to date, compared with a decline of 3.7% reported a week earlier.

The AAR said rail traffic fell 2.3% in Canada last week amid a 3.9% drop in carloads and a 0.6% decline in intermodal units.

Rail traffic rose 1.5% in Mexico last week, the AAR said, as a 3.5% rise in intermodal units more than offset a 0.3% decline in carloads.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 25, 2019 12:35 ET (16:35 GMT)

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