North American rail traffic down 3.7% for the week ending October 5

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending October 5. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 486,187 carloads and intermodal units, down 2.5% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending October 5 were 225,280 carloads, down 3.5% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 260,907 containers and trailers, down 1.7% compared to 2023. Four of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included farm products excl. grain, and food, up 1,553 carloads, to 18,019; chemicals, up 1,140 carloads, to 31,059; and metallic ores and metals, up 828 carloads, to 20,908. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 included coal, down 5,458 carloads, to 61,304; nonmetallic minerals, down 3,937 carloads, to 29,645; and grain, down 1,300 carloads, to 21,933. North American rail volume for the week ending October 5 on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 331,587 carloads, down 4.5% compared with the same week last year, and 341,107 intermodal units, down 3% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 672,694 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.7%. North American rail volume for the first 40 weeks of 2024 was 26,678,777 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.4%t 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) and GATX (GATX).