North American rail traffic down 8.2% for the week ending February 22

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending February 22. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 458,513 carloads and intermodal units, down 5.1% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending February 22 were 193,252 carloads, down 13.6% compared with the same week in 2024, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 265,261 containers and trailers, up 2.3% compared to 2024. One of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2024. It was chemicals, up 70 carloads, to 33,527. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2024 included coal, down 13,190 carloads, to 47,852; grain, down 5,347 carloads, to 16,374; and nonmetallic minerals, down 4,770 carloads, to 22,827. North American rail volume for the week ending February 22, on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 288,166 carloads, down 14.4% compared with the same week last year, and 334,375 intermodal units, down 2.1% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 622,541 carloads and intermodal units, down 8.2%. North American rail volume for the first eight weeks of 2025 was 5,207,293 carloads and intermodal units, up 2% compared with 2024. Publicly traded companies in the space include CN (CNI), CSX (CSX), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Norfolk Southern (NSC) , Union Pacific (UNP), J.B. Hunt (JBHT), Wabtec (WAB), Rail Vision (RVSN), Trinity Industries (TRN), Greenbrier (GBX), FreightCar America (RAIL) and GATX (GATX)…