The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has reported that U.S. rail traffic for the week ending September 17, 2016, totaled 537,904 carloads and intermodal units, a 5.1 percent decrease compared to the same week in 2015.
U.S. carloads, which totaled 270,336 for the week, were down by 5.3 percent compared to the same week last year. U.S. intermodal volume for the week totaled 267,568 units, a decrease of 4.9 percent compared to 2015.
Three of the 10 carload commodity groups that are tracked by the AAR posted an increase for the week ending September 17, 2016, when compared with the same week in 2015. Miscellaneous carloads increased 21.2 percent to 11,104; farm products, excluding grain and food, were up by 4.9 percent to 16,544 carloads; and chemicals were up 1 percent to 30,723 carloads.
Petroleum and petroleum products showed the largest decrease in the commodity groups, with a drop of 17.4 percent to 11,633 carloads. Forest products declined by 13 percent to 10,013 carloads, and coal dropped 12.5 percent to 90,369 carloads.
For the first 37 weeks of 2016, U.S. rail volume totaled 18,732,048 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 7.1 percent when compared to last year. Carloads, with a total of 9,191,535, were down by 10.8 percent, and intermodal, with a total of 9,540,513, dropped by 3.2 percent.
On the 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads, combined North American rail volume for the week ending September 17, 2016, was 701,528 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.4 percent.
For the first 37 weeks of 2016, North American rail volume was down 6.8 percent, with a total of 24,496,523 carloads and intermodal units.