North American rail traffic down 1.3% for the week ending February 4

The Association of American Railroads or AAR reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending February 4. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 449,586 carloads and intermodal units, down 1.9% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending February 4 were 216,700 carloads, down 0.9% compared with the same week in 2022, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 232,886 containers and trailers, down 2.9% compared to 2022. Six of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2022. They included motor vehicles and parts, up 2,725 carloads, to 13,155; petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,578 carloads, to 10,727; and nonmetallic minerals, up 1,445 carloads, to 25,578. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2022 included coal, down 6,723 carloads, to 58,224; grain, down 1,236 carloads, to 22,244; and chemicals, down 1,182 carloads, to 32,743. North American rail volume for the week ending February 4 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 314,555 carloads, up 1.5% compared with the same week last year, and 305,639 intermodal units, down 4% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 620,194 carloads and intermodal units, down 1.3%. North American rail volume for the first five weeks of 2023 was 3,171,238 carloads and intermodal units, down 0.9% compared with 2022. Publicly traded companies in the space include CSX (CSX), Canadian National (CNI), Canadian Pacific (CP), Kansas City Southern (KSU), Norfolk Southern (NSC) ,Union Pacific (UNP),Wabtec (WAB) FreightCar America (RAIL), Trinity Industries(TRN) and Greenbrier (GBX). Reference Link