North American rail traffic up 0.2% for the week ending August 20

The Association of American Railroads, AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending August 20. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 501,548 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.1% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending August 20 were 237,404 carloads, up 2.9% compared with the same week in 2021, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 264,144 containers and trailers, down 2.4% compared to 2021. Seven of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2021. They included coal, up 4,321 carloads, to 68,280; grain, up 2,825 carloads, to 20,974; and farm products excl. grain, and food, up 2,128 carloads, to 17,031. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2021 were miscellaneous carloads, down 1,951 carloads, to 8,600; metallic ores and metals, down 1,248 carloads, to 22,270; and petroleum and petroleum products, down 627 carloads, to 9,681. North American rail volume for the week ending August 20 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 334,389 carloads, up 2.3% compared with the same week last year, and 354,588 intermodal units, down 1.7% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 688,977 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.2%. North American rail volume for the first 33 weeks of 2022 was 22,296,729 carloads and intermodal units, down 2.8% compared with 2021. Publicly traded companies in the space include CSX (CSX), Canadian National (CNI), Canadian Pacific (CP), Kansas City Southern (KSU), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Union Pacific (UNP), Trinity Industries (TRN), Greenbrier (GBX), FreightCar America (RAIL) and Wabtec (WAB). Reference Link