The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week that United States rail carload and intermodal volumes were up for the week ending October 14.
Carloads increased 0.5% annually to 264,161, which trailed the week ending October 7 at 269,336 and the week ending September 30 at 272,662.
AAR said four of the ten carload commodity groups tracked by the AAR saw annual gains, including: nonmetallic minerals, up 4,974 carloads, to 40,007; metallic ores and metals, up 3,454 carloads, to 22,306; and chemicals, up 1,805 carloads, to 30,961. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2016 included grain, down 5,369 carloads, to 21,930; petroleum and petroleum products, down 1,533 carloads, to 8,959; and coal, down 1,419 carloads, to 86,292.
Intermodal containers and trailers headed up 5.5% annually to 284,103, coming in below the week ending October 7 at 285,490 and the week ending September 30 at 286,893, which is a new intermodal record.
Through the first 41 weeks of 2017, U.S. carloads are up 3.7% annually at 10,640,157 and intermodal units are up 3.7% for the same period at 11,002,145.