The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has reported that U.S. rail traffic for the week ending December 17, 2016, totaled 523,949 carloads and intermodal units, a 0.3 percent decrease compared to the same week in 2015.
U.S. carloads, which totaled 254,700 for the week, were down by 2.8 percent compared to the same week last year. U.S. intermodal volume for the week totaled 269,249 units, an increase of 2.2 percent compared to 2015.
Three of the 10 carload commodity groups that are tracked by the AAR posted an increase for the week ending December 17, 2016, when compared with the same week in 2015. Grain was up by 5.3 percent to 24,193 carloads; coal was up 2.5 percent to 87,219 carloads; and metallic ores and metals were up 1.5 percent to 20,955 carloads.
Petroleum and petroleum products showed the largest decrease in the commodity groups, with a drop of 15.6 percent to 11,089 carloads. Nonmetallic minerals declined by 12.5 percent to 27,842 carloads, and motor vehicles and parts dropped 10.8 percent to 17,640 carloads.
For the first 50 weeks of 2016, U.S. rail volume totaled 25,664,720 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 5.6 percent when compared to last year. Carloads, with a total of 12,636,976, were down by 8.8 percent, and intermodal, with a total of 13,027,744, dropped by 2.3 percent.
On the 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads, combined North American rail volume for the week ending December 17, 2016, was 679,958 carloads and intermodal units, down 0.5 percent.
For the first 50 weeks of 2016, North American rail volume was down 5.1 percent, with a total of 33,607,574 carloads and intermodal units.