The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has reported that U.S. rail traffic for the week ending January 14, 2017, totaled 516,229 carloads and intermodal units, a 2 percent increase compared to the same week in 2016.
U.S. carloads, which totaled 253,223 for the week, were up by 4.4 percent compared to the same week last year. U.S. intermodal volume for the week totaled 263,006 units, a decrease of 0.3 percent compared to 2016.
Five of the 10 carload commodity groups that are tracked by the AAR posted an increase for the week ending January 14, 2017, when compared with the same week in 2016. Metallic ores and metals saw an increase of 17.6 percent to 21,979 carloads, and miscellaneous carloads were up 17.3 percent to 9,895 carloads. Coal increased to 85,133 carloads, or 13.3 percent.
Petroleum and petroleum products showed the largest decrease in the commodity groups, with a drop of 14.7 percent to 10,960 carloads. Forest products declined by 5.8 percent to 9,492 carloads, and chemicals dropped 5.8 percent to 29,864 carloads.
For the first two week of 2017, U.S. rail volume totaled 957,646 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 4.7 percent when compared to last year. Carloads, with a total of 474,369, were down by 1.6 percent, and intermodal, with a total of 483,277, dropped by 7.5 percent.
On the 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads, combined North American rail volume for the week ending January 14, 2017, was 677,980 carloads and intermodal units, up by 2.6 percent.
For the first two weeks of 2017, North American rail volume was down 3.9 percent, with a total of 1,259,917 carloads and intermodal units.