North American rail traffic up 5.9% for the week ending November 2

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending November 2. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 516,743 carloads and intermodal units, up 6.6% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending November 2 were 228,635 carloads, up 1.9% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 288,108 containers and trailers, up 10.7% compared to 2023. Nine of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included chemicals, up 2,326 carloads, to 32,425; grain, up 2,229 carloads, to 23,656; and nonmetallic minerals, up 1,911 carloads, to 33,124. One commodity group posted a decrease compared with the same week in 2023: coal, down 7,949 carloads, to 57,314. North American rail volume for the week ending November 2, on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 340,572 carloads, up 1.8% compared with the same week last year, and 371,537 intermodal units, up 9.9% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 712,109 carloads and intermodal units, up 5.9%. North American rail volume for the first 44 weeks of 2024 was 29,507,054 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.4% 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), GATX (GATX) and Rail Vision (RVSN).