AAR reports more declines for week ending October 8

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week that both United States rail carload and intermodal volumes were again down.

For the week ending October 15, the AAR reported that carloads were down 6.1 percent annually at 262,702, which was below the week ending October 8 at 264,165 and 277,157 for the week ending October 1.  

The AAR said that two of the ten carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2015, including: miscellaneous carloads, up 8.7 percent to 10,034 carloads; and grain, up 7.5 percent to 27,300 carloads. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2015 included petroleum and petroleum products, down 23.9 percent to 10,492 carloads; forest products, down 16.1 percent to 8,744 carloads; and metallic ores and metals, down 12.2 percent to 18,849 carloads.

Weekly intermodal containers and trailers were off 2.2 percent annually at 269,234, which topped the week ending October 8 at 257,624 and was below the week ending October 1 at 272,014.

On a year-to-date basis through the first 41 weeks of 2016, carloads are down 10.3 percent at 10,610,470, and intermodal containers and trailers are off 3.3 percent at 10,341,236.