North American rail traffic down 1.3% for the week ending November 16

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending November 16. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 516,886 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.2% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending November 16 were 223,659 carloads, down 5.% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 293,227 containers and trailers, up 11.1% compared to 2023. Five of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,535 carloads, to 11,628; chemicals, up 867 carloads, to 33,170; and farm products excl. grain, and food, up 575 carloads, to 18,103. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 included coal, down 11,573 carloads, to 57,661; metallic ores and metals, down 2,394 carloads, to 18,422; and nonmetallic minerals, down 1,758 carloads, to 29,446…North American rail volume for the week ending November 16, on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 333,382 carloads, down 4.3% compared with the same week last year, and 347,859 intermodal units, up 1.8% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 681,241 carloads and intermodal units, down 1.3%. North American rail volume for the first 46 weeks of 2024 was 30,859,771 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.2% compared with 2023. Publicly traded companies in the space include CN (CNI), CSX (CSX), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Union Pacific (UNP), (TRN), Greenbrier (GBX), FreightCar America (RAIL), L.B. Foster (FSTR), Wabtec (WAB), GATX (GATX) and Rail Vision (RVSN).