North American Rail Traffic Fell 8.3% in Week Ended Feb. 29

By Colin Kellaher

North American rail traffic fell 8.3% last week as blockades in Canada shut down rail lines, data from the Association of American Railroads showed.

Carload volume for the week ended Feb. 29 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads fell 4.2%, while intermodal traffic tumbled 12.4%, the trade group said.

North American rail traffic was down 7% in the week ended Feb. 22. For the first nine weeks of the year, North American traffic declined 5.1%, the AAR reported.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic fell 9.6% last week amid a 12.5% drop in the volume of intermodal containers and trailers. Carloads fell 6.5% for the week, once again dragged down by a steep drop in shipments of coal, the largest of the 10 commodity groups tracked.

For the month of February, U.S. rail traffic fell 8.1%, with carloads down 7.3%. Excluding coal, however, U.S. carloads fell just 0.8% for the month, their best showing in a year, the AAR said.

U.S. rail traffic is down 6.8% for the first nine weeks of the year.

Canadian rail traffic fell 4.7% last week, as a 14.4% drop in intermodal units more than offset a 3.9% rise in carloads. Canadian rail traffic is down 2% for the first nine weeks of the year.

Mexican rail traffic fell 4.4% for the week, with carloads down 5.8% and intermodal units off 2.7%. Mexican rail traffic is up 7.2% for the first nine weeks of the year.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 04, 2020 12:59 ET (17:59 GMT)

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