North American rail traffic up 4.5% for the week ending September 14

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending September 14. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 522,557 carloads and intermodal units, up 6.8% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending September 14 were 232,154 carloads, down 0.0% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 290,403 containers and trailers, up 13% compared to 2023. Seven of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included grain, up 3,048 carloads, to 19,372; miscellaneous carloads, up 1,837 carloads, to 10,781; and farm products excl. grain, and food, up 820 carloads, to 17,227. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 were coal, down 5,797 carloads, to 63,017; nonmetallic minerals, down 1,853 carloads, to 32,020; and chemicals, down 310 carloads, to 32,444…North American rail volume for the week ending September 14 on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 338,817 carloads, down 0.8% compared with the same week last year, and 374,207 intermodal units, up 9.8% compared with last year.Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 713,024 carloads and intermodal units, up 4.5%. North American rail volume for the first 37 weeks of 2024 was 24,587,434 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.6% compared with 2023. Publicly traded companies in the space include CN (CNI), CSX (CSX), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Norfolk Southern (NSC) and Union Pacific (UNP),Trinity Industries (TRN), Greenbrier (GBX), FreightCar America (RAIL), L.B. Foster (FSTR), Wabtec (WAB) and GATX (GATX).