North American rail traffic up 2.3% for the week ending May 11

The Association of American Railroads or AAR reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending May 11. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 468,748 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.6 % compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending May 11 were 209,319 carloads, down 7% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 259,429 containers and trailers, up 7.7% to 2023. Six of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included chemicals, up 1,668 carloads, to 33,045; petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,505 carloads, to 10,996; and miscellaneous carloads, up 1,132 carloads, to 8,639. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 included coal, down 16,549 carloads, to 46,715; nonmetallic minerals, down 2,291 carloads, to 31,457; and grain, down 1,610 carloads, to 17,226…North American rail volume for the week ending May 11 on 10 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 321,482 carloads, down 2.6% compared with the same week last year, and 345,901 intermodal units, up 7.4% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 667,383 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.3%…North American rail volume for the first 19 weeks of 2024 was 12,481,187 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.1% compared with 2023. Publicly traded companies in the space include CSX (CSX), Canadian National (CNI), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Union Pacific (UNP), Rail Vision (RVSN), Greenbrier (GBX), FreightCar America (RAIL) and Trinity Industries (TRN).