North American rail traffic up 2.8% for the week ending September 21

The Association of American Railroads or AAR reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending September 21. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 522,112 carloads and intermodal units, up 6% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending September 21 were 232,818 carloads, down 0.6% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 289,294 containers and trailers, up 12% compared to 2023. Six of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included grain, up 2,812 carloads, to 20,897; chemicals, up 2,071 carloads, to 33,139; and miscellaneous carloads, up 1,799 carloads, to 10,313. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 included coal, down 4,987 carloads, to 63,164; metallic ores and metals, down 2,699 carloads, to 19,979; and nonmetallic minerals, down 2,382 carloads, to 32,096…North American rail volume for the week ending September 21 on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 339,514 carloads, down 2.3% compared with the same week last year, and 371,529 intermodal units, up 8% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 711,043 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.8%. North American rail volume for the first 38 weeks of 2024 was 25,298,477 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.6 percent 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).