North American rail traffic down 1.7% for the week ending December 3

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending December 3.Total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 495,472 carloads and intermodal units, down 6% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending December 3 were 241,307 carloads, down 5.4% compared with the same week in 2021, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 254,165 containers and trailers, down 6.7% compared to 2021.Three of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2021. They were coal, up 475 carloads, to 69,107; motor vehicles and parts, up 229 carloads, to 15,044; and farm products excl. grain, and food, up 94 carloads, to 17,709. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2021 included chemicals, down 10,232 carloads , to 28,290; grain, down 2,018 carloads, to 26,212; and forest products, down 901 carloads, to 9,666. North American rail volume for the week ending December 3, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 344,150 carloads, down 0.6% compared with the same week last year, and 333,927 intermodal units, down 2.8% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 678,077 carloads and intermodal units, down 1.7%. North American rail volume for the first 48 weeks of 2022 was 32,505,576 carloads and intermodal units, down 1.9 percent compared with 2021. 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), FreightCar America (RAIL), Trinity Industries (TRN), Greenbrier (GBX) and Wabtec (WAB). Reference Link