Cargo Business Newswire

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

American Association of Railroads: Rail traffic trending up

U.S. rail traffic is trending up in 2014, according to the American Association of Railroads.

AAR reports that for the first 20 weeks of 2014, U.S. railroads reported collective volume of 5,680,070 carloads, a 2.7 percent increase year-over-year, and 5,053,519 intermodal units, up 5.5 percent from 2013.

Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 20 weeks of 2014 was 10,733,589 carloads and intermodal units, a 4 percent increase over last year, the statement said.

AAR noted that Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 1,518,821 carloads for the first 20 weeks of 2014, down 3.6 percent from the same point last year, and 1,090,676 intermodal units, up 5 percent year-over-year.

For the first 20 weeks of the year, Mexican railroads reported cumulative railroad volume of 303,412 carloads, up 2 percent from the same period last year, and 193,129 intermodal units, up 2.5 percent from last year, according to the AAR statement.

Combined North American rail volume reported to AAR for the first 20 weeks of 2014, which includes 13 U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads, totaled 7,502,303 carloads, up 1.3 percent compared with the same point last year. AAR said 6,337,324 intermodal trailers and containers were reported by these 13 North American railroads, up 5.3 percent year-over-year.