The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has reported that U.S. rail traffic for the week ending July 23, 2016, totaled 528,070 carloads and intermodal units, a 5.3 percent decrease compared to the same week in 2015.
U.S. carloads, which totaled 261,748 for the week, were down by 8.7 percent compared to the same week last year. U.S. intermodal volume for the week totaled 266,322 units, a decrease of 1.7 percent compared to 2015.
Four of the 10 carload commodity groups that are tracked by the AAR posted an increase for the week ending July 23, 2016, when compared with the same week in 2015. Miscellaneous carloads increased 28.3 percent to 10,916; grain was up 9.2 percent to 24,038 carloads; and chemicals were up 2.5 percent to 30,432 carloads.
Petroleum and petroleum products showed the largest decrease in the commodity groups, with a drop of 27.5 percent to 10,260 carloads. Coal declined by 19.4 percent to 83,677 carloads, and motor vehicles and parts dropped 13.8 percent to 14,615 carloads.
For the first 29 weeks of 2016, U.S. rail volume totaled 14,499,071 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 7.6 percent when compared to last year. Carloads, with a total of 7,046,228, were down by 12.1 percent, and intermodal, with a total of 7,452,843, dropped by 2.8 percent.
On the 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads, combined North American rail volume for the week ending July 23, 2016, was 685,779 carloads and intermodal units, down 5.7 percent.
For the first 29 weeks of 2016, North American rail volume was down 7.3 percent, with a total of 18,987,941 carloads and intermodal units.