North American rail traffic up 2.8% for the week ending November 18

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending November 18. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 501,416 carloads and intermodal units, up 4% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending November 18 were 237,416 carloads, up 3.8 %compared with the same week in 2022, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 264,000 containers and trailers, up 4.1% compared to 2022. Seven of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2022. They included coal, up 3,185 carloads, to 69,630; chemicals, up 2,519 carloads, to 32,295; and motor vehicles and parts, up 1,632 carloads, to 15,260. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2022 were grain, down 475 carloads, to 24,483; miscellaneous carloads, down 442 carloads, to 7,588; and metallic ores and metals, down 68 carloads, to 20,837. North American rail volume for the week ending November 18 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 351,368 carloads, up 3.8% compared with the same week last year, and 343,001 intermodal units, up 1.7% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 694,369 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.8 %… North American rail volume for the first 46 weeks of 2023 was 30,221,325 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.1% compared with 2022…Publicly traded companies in the space include CSX (CSX), Canadian National (CNI), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Kansas City Southern (KSU), Norfolk Southern (NSC),Union Pacific (UNP), Greenbrier (GBX),Trinity Industries (TRN), Wabtec (WAB), FreightCar America (RAIL), and Rail Vision (RVSN).