North American Rail Traffic Rose 8.6% in Week Ended Jan. 16

By Colin Kellaher

North American rail traffic rose 8.6% last week, continuing a strong start to the new year, data from the Association of American Railroads showed.

Carload volume rose 4.2% for the week ended Jan. 16 on a dozen reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads, while intermodal traffic rose 12.9% compared with last year, the trade group said Wednesday.

In the week ended Jan. 9, North American rail traffic rose 3%. For the first two weeks of the year, North American rail traffic was up 5.8%.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic rose 5.8% last week, as a 12.8% increase in the volume of intermodal containers and trailers more than offset a 2% decline in carloads. U.S. rail traffic is up 5.2% for the first two weeks of the year.

Canadian rail traffic surged 22.7% last week, with a 23.9% jump in carloads and a 21.3% rise in intermodal volume. Canadian rail traffic is up 11.3% for the first two weeks of the year.

Mexican rail traffic slipped 2.4% last week, as a 14.4% drop in intermodal units offset an 8.4% rise in carloads, the AAR said. Mexican rail traffic is down 7.7% for the first two weeks of the year.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 20, 2021 13:13 ET (18:13 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.