North American rail traffic up 19.1% for the week ending November 23

The Association of American Railroads, AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending November 23. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 520,798 carloads and intermodal units, up 25.6% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending November 23 were 230,036 carloads, up 17.6% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 290,762 containers and trailers, up 32.8% compared to 2023. Nine of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included nonmetallic minerals, up 8,383 carloads, to 29,904; chemicals, up 6,228 carloads, to 33,785; and grain, up 5,705 carloads, to 23,647. One commodity group posted a decrease compared with the same week in 2023: coal, down 2,934 carloads, to 58,189…North American rail volume for the week ending November 23 on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 338,963 carloads, up 13.2% compared with the same week last year, and 372,927 intermodal units, up 25.1% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 711,890 carloads and intermodal units, up 19.1% North American rail volume for the first 47 weeks of 2024 was 31,571,661 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), Greenbrier (GBX), FreightCar America (RAIL), L.B. Foster (FSTR), Wabtec (WAB), GATX (GATX) and Rail Vision (RVSN).