North American rail traffic down 2.1% for the week ending October 14

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending October 14 . For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 492,781 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.5% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending October 14 were 225,405 carloads, down 2% compared with the same week in 2022, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 267,376 containers and trailers, up 2.8% compared to 2022. Six of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2022. They included petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,774 carloads, to 10,583; motor vehicles and parts, up 955 carloads, to 15,712; and miscellaneous carloads, up 809 carloads, to 8,786. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2022 included coal, down 4,787 carloads, to 62,138; grain, down 2,049 carloads, to 22,176; and metallic ores and metals, down 1,705 carloads, to 18,137. North American rail volume for the week ending October 14, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 335,745 carloads, down 2.9% compared with the same week last year, and 347,146 intermodal units, down 1.4% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 682,891 carloads and intermodal units, down 2.1%. North American rail volume for the first 41 weeks of 2023 was 26,749,075 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.6% 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), Trinity Industries (TRN), Greenbrier (GBX), FreightCar America (RAIL), Wabtec (WAB) and Rail Vision (RVSN).