North American rail traffic down 1.2% for the week ending November 4

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending November 4. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 484,757 carloads and intermodal units, down 1.7% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending November 4 were 224,415 carloads, down 5.2% compared with the same week in 2022, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 260,342 containers and trailers, up 1.5 percent compared to 2022. Three of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2022. They were motor vehicles and parts, up 357 carloads, to 14,841; farm products excl. grain, and food, up 274 carloads, to 17,101; and petroleum and petroleum products, up 267 carloads, to 9,527. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2022 included grain, down 3,655 carloads, to 21,395; coal, down 3,017 carloads, to 65,298; and nonmetallic minerals, down 2,562 carloads, to 31,218. North American rail volume for the week ending November 4 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 337,189 carloads, down 2% compared with the same week last year, and 339,433 intermodal units, down 0.5% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 676,622 carloads and intermodal units, down 1.2 %. North American rail volume for the first 44 weeks of 2023 was 28,833,863 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.4% compared with 2022. Publicly traded companies in the space include CSX (CSX), Canadian National (CNI), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Kansas City Southern (KSU), Norfolk Southern (NSC) Union Pacific (UNP) Wabtec (WAB), Trinity Industries (TRN), Greenbrier (GBX), Rail Vision (RVSN) and FreightCar America (RAIL).