The Association of American Railroads has reported that total U.S. rail traffic for January 2017 was 2,017,641 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.5 percent or 9,788 carloads and intermodal units compared with January 2016.
January 2017 U.S. carload originations totaled 996,573, an increase of 2.9 percent, or 28,341 carloads, compared to January of last year. Excluding coal, carloads for the month were down 1.1 percent or 7,457 carloads compared to January 2016.
U.S. railroads also originated 1,021,068 containers and trailers in January 2017, down 1.8 percent or 18,553 units from the same month last year.
Nine of the 10 commodity categories tracked by the AAR each month saw increases last month compared with January of 2016. Commodities showing the largest increases included waste and nonferrous scrap, up 20.9 percent, or 2,546 carloads; coal, up 11.9 percent, or 35,798 carloads; and grain, up 5.2 percent, or 4,570 carloads.
Petroleum and petroleum products showed the largest decrease in the commodity groups, with a drop of 19.5 percent, or 9,751 carloads, and stone, clay and glass products declined 10.9 percent, or 2,904 carloads. Chemicals were down 3.6 percent, or 4,456 carloads.
AAR Senior Vice President of Policy and Economics John T. Gray remarked, "January rail traffic paints a mixed picture, with some commodities exceeding expectations, while others remained flat or down. For most of last year, coal carloads were down sharply, but for the past couple of months, including January, they've been the major force behind rail carload gains.”
“We can probably expect continued uncertainty in energy markets going forward, but we're hopeful that improving macro-economic fundamentals will drive improvement in rail volumes for many commodity categories this year,” added Gray.
For the week ending January 28, 2017, an increase of 3.3 percent was reported in total U.S. rail traffic compared with the same week in 2016. Carloads and intermodal units totaled 529,696.
For the week, there were 259,708 carloads, an increase of 4.3 percent compared with the same week in 2016, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 269,988 containers and trailers, up 2.4 percent compared to 2016.