North American rail traffic up 0.3% for the week ending September 28

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending September 28. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 507,537 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.6% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending September 28 were 227,046 carloads, down 3.5% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 280,491 containers and trailers, up 6.2% compared to 2023. Four of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included grain, up 2,435 carloads, to 20,941; motor vehicles and parts, up 732 carloads, to 16,705; and petroleum and petroleum products, up 617 carloads, to 10,782. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 included coal, down 6,955 carloads, to 60,885; nonmetallic minerals, down 3,168 carloads, to 30,583; and metallic ores and metals, down 1,863 carloads, to 21,213. North American rail volume for the week ending September 28, on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 338,087 carloads, down 3.6% compared with the same week last year, and 362,754 intermodal units, up 4.2% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 700,841 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.3%. North American rail volume for the first 39 weeks of 2024 was 25,999,318 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.5% 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).