North American rail traffic up 2.2% for the week ending December 7

The Association of American Railroads or AAR reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending December 7. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 520,894 carloads and intermodal units, up 4.4% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending December 7 were 224,899 carloads, down 1.8% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 295,995 containers and trailers, up 9.7% compared to 2023. Five of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included chemicals, up 2,614 carloads, to 33,599; grain, up 2,436 carloads, to 23,143; and miscellaneous carloads, up 1,302 carloads, to 9,318. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 included coal, down 8,665 carloads, to 57,764; motor vehicles and parts, down 2,436 carloads, to 15,046; and nonmetallic minerals, down 892 carloads, to 28,164…North American rail volume for the week ending December 7, on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 331,101 carloads, down 2.6% compared with the same week last year, and 379,058 intermodal units, up 6.8% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 710,159 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.2%. North American rail volume for the first 49 weeks of 2024 was 32,915,088 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), Wabtec (WAB),Trinity Industries (TRN),Greenbrier (GBX), FreightCar America (RAIL), and Rail Vision (RVSN).