Rail Freight Down 3.5% Last Week

U.S. rail freight for the week ending Nov. 6 was down 3.5 percent compared to the same week in 2020.

The same pattern of increased carload traffic being offset by declines in intermodal traffic continued.

Class 1 railroads handled 504,111 carloads and intermodal units. That broke down to 235,585 carloads, a gain of 3.1 percent, and 268,526 containers and trailers, a loss of 8.6 percent.

Gains were registered by coal, up 7,624 carloads, to 66,745; metallic ores and metals, up 3,486 carloads, to 21,039; and chemicals, up 1,178 carloads, to 33,780.

Commodity groups that lost ground included motor vehicles and parts, down 3,204 carloads, to 11,946; grain, down 2,039 carloads, to 25,386; and petroleum and petroleum products, down 413 carloads, to 10,010.

Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 44 weeks of this year has been 22,350,386 carloads and intermodal units, a gain of 7.5 percent.

Tags: AAR freight statistics, Association of American Railroads, U.S. railroad freight traffic