North American rail traffic down 3% for the week ending July 22

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending July 22. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 473,736 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.2% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending July 22 were 222,454 carloads, down 1.3% compared with the same week in 2022, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 251,282 containers and trailers, down 4.8% compared to 2022. Six of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2022. They included motor vehicles and parts, up 2,150 carloads, to 14,641; nonmetallic minerals, up 1,780 carloads, to 34,583; and metallic ores and metals, up 886 carloads, to 21,354. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2022 included grain, down 4,417 carloads, to 14,981; coal, down 3,251 carloads, to 64,474; and forest products, down 852 carloads, to 7,748. North American rail volume for the week ending July 22, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 330,062 carloads, up 0.4% compared with the same week last year, and 331,880 intermodal units, down 6.3% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 661,942 carloads and intermodal units, down 3%. North American rail volume for the first 29 weeks of 2023 was 18,690,310 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.2% compared with 2022. Publicly traded companies in the space include CSX (CSX), Canadian National (CNI), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Kansas City Southern (KSU), Norfolk Southern (NSC) Union Pacific (UNP) Greenbrier (GBX), Trinity Industries (TRN), FreightCar America (RAIL), Wabtec (WAB) and GATX (GATX).