North American rail traffic up 3.1% for the week ending January 11

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending January 11. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 465,390 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.8% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending January 11 were 199,511 carloads, down 6.4% compared with the same week in 2024, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 265,879 containers and trailers, up 8.9% compared to 2024. Four of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2024. They included grain, up 2,386 carloads, to 21,124; farm products excl. grain, and food, up 1,424 carloads, to 17,442; and forest products, up 401 carloads, to 8,588. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2024 included coal, down 6,241 carloads, to 52,232; motor vehicles and parts, down 3,886 carloads, to 9,788; and nonmetallic minerals, down 3,211 carloads, to 22,229. North American rail volume for the week ending January 11 on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 305,986 carloads, down 2.7% compared with the same week last year, and 348,125 intermodal units, up 8.9% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 654,111 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.1%. North American rail volume for the first two weeks of 2025 was 1,236,879 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.5 percent compared with 2024…Publicly traded companies in the space include CN (CNI), CSX (CSX), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Norfolk Southern (NSC) , Union Pacific (UNP), FreightCar America (RAIL), Greenbrier (GBX), Trinity Industries (TRN), Wabtec (WAB) and Rail Vision (RVSN)…