North American rail traffic down down 0.6% for the week ending October 19

The Association of American Railroads or, AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending October 19. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 510,730 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.1% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending October 19 were 223,278 carloads, down 4.6% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 287,452 containers and trailers, up 6% compared to 2023. Five of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included grain, up 3,052 carloads, to 23,372; miscellaneous carloads, up 1,015 carloads, to 9,992; and farm products excl. grain, and food, up 898 carloads, to 18,082. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 included coal, down 8,261 carloads, to 58,350; nonmetallic minerals, down 3,771 carloads, to 30,281; and metallic ores and metals, down 3,551 carloads, to 18,884. For the first 42 weeks of 2024, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 9,142,601 carloads, down 3.3% from the same point last year; and 11,042,994 intermodal units, up 9% from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 42 weeks of 2024 was 20,185,595 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 3.1% compared to last year. North American rail volume for the week ending October 19 on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 333,360 carloads, down 4.4% compared with the same week last year, and 368,573 intermodal units, up 3.1% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 701,933 carloads and intermodal units, down 0.6% . North American rail volume for the first 42 weeks of 2024 was 28,077,581 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.3% 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)…