The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has reported that U.S. rail traffic for the week ending December 24, 2016, totaled 496,633 carloads and intermodal units, a 27 percent increase compared to the same week in 2015.
U.S. carloads, which totaled 243,917 for the week, were up by 17.9 percent compared to the same week last year. U.S. intermodal volume for the week totaled 252,716 units, an increase of 37.2 percent compared to 2015.
The AAR notes that Christmas Day is not included in the current week this year, but is included in the comparable week in 2015. Therefore, this week's traffic volume is somewhat overstated compared to 2015.
Nine of the 10 carload commodity groups that are tracked by the AAR posted an increase for the week ending December 24, 2016, when compared with the same week in 2015. Miscellaneous carloads were up by 30.6 percent to 8,186 carloads; motor vehicles and parts were up 24.6 percent to 16,491 carloads; and grain was up 24 percent to 22,582 carloads.
Petroleum and petroleum products were the only commodity that posted a decrease, with a drop of 5.4 percent to 9,972 carloads.
For the first 51 weeks of 2016, U.S. rail volume totaled 26,161,353 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 5.1 percent when compared to last year. Carloads, with a total of 12,880,893, were down by 8.4 percent, and intermodal, with a total of 13,280,460, dropped by 1.8 percent.
On the 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads, combined North American rail volume for the week ending December 24, 2016, was 653,898 carloads and intermodal units, up 26.7 percent.
For the first 51 weeks of 2016, North American rail volume was down 4.7 percent, with a total of 34,261,472 carloads and intermodal units.