The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has reported that U.S. rail traffic for the week ending August 13, 2016, totaled 534,533 carloads and intermodal units, a 5.3 percent decrease compared to the same week in 2015.
U.S. carloads, which totaled 267,589 for the week, were down by 7.1 percent compared to the same week last year. U.S. intermodal volume for the week totaled 266,944 units, a decrease of 3.4 percent compared to 2015.
Three of the 10 carload commodity groups that are tracked by the AAR posted an increase for the week ending August 13, 2016, when compared with the same week in 2015. Grain increased 27.6 percent to 25,232; chemicals were up by 4.3 percent to 30,447 carloads; and miscellaneous carloads were up 0.5 percent to 9,999 carloads.
Petroleum and petroleum products showed the largest decrease in the commodity groups, with a drop of 25.2 percent to 10,484 carloads. Coal declined by 16.4 percent to 88,905 carloads, and forest products dropped 7.5 percent to 10,281 carloads.
For the first 32 weeks of 2016, U.S. rail volume totaled 16,102,115 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 7.3 percent when compared to last year. Carloads, with a total of 7,856,178, were down by 11.6 percent, and intermodal, with a total of 8,245,937, dropped by 2.8 percent.
On the 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads, combined North American rail volume for the week ending August 13, 2016, was 691,991 carloads and intermodal units, down 5.3 percent.
For the first 32 weeks of 2016, North American rail volume was down 7.1 percent, with a total of 21,059,166 carloads and intermodal units.