American Association of American Railroads figures show that U.S. weekly rail traffic for the week ending Dec. 12 was 546,209 carloads and intermodal units, up 4.9 percent compared with the same week in 2019.
Total carloads were 238,193, down 2.2 percent, while intermodal volume was 308,016 containers and trailers, up 11.1 percent compared with 2019.
Three of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase over the 2019 figures.
They included grain, up 7,613 carloads, to 28,390; chemicals, up 1,679 carloads, to 32,591; and farm products excluding grain, and food, up 525 carloads, to 15,978.
Decreases were posted by coal, down 8,651 carloads, to 63,777; petroleum and petroleum products, down 2,252 carloads, to 11,485; and metallic ores and metals, down 1,854 carloads, to 20,765.
For the first 50 weeks of 2020, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 10,863,948 carloads, a decrease of 13.3 percent from the same point last year; and 12,946,162 intermodal units, a decline of 2.6 percent from last year.
Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 50 weeks of 2020 was 23,810,110 carloads and intermodal units, down 7.8 percent compared with last year.
Tags: AAR freight statistics, Association of American Railroads, railroad freight volume, U.S. freight volume, U.S. railroad freight traffic
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