North American rail traffic down 3.4% for the week ending February 25

The Association of American Railroads, AAR reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending February 25, as well as volumes for February 2023. U.S. railroads originated 905,744 carloads in February 2023, down 1.6% or 15,101 carloads, from February 2022. U.S. railroads also originated 943,979 containers and trailers in February 2023, down 8.4%, or 86,351 units, from the same month last year. Combined U.S. carload and intermodal originations in February 2023 were 1,849,723, down 5.2%, or 101,452 carloads and intermodal units from February 2022. "Coal, chemicals, and grain together account for more than half of all non-intermodal U.S. rail volume. When all three are down, like they were in February, it’s very hard for total carloads not to be down too," said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. "On the positive side, several commodities including crushed stone and sand, petroleum products, steel products, grain mill and food products showed very strong performances." Total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 459,233 carloads and intermodal units, down 5.9% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending February 25 were 226,435 carloads, up 0.1% compared with the same week in 2022, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 232,798 containers and trailers, down 11.1% compared to 2022. North American rail volume for the week ending February 25 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 327,221 carloads, up 2.9% compared with the same week last year, and 308,029 intermodal units, down 9.3% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 635,250 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.4%. 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), Greenbrier (GBX), Trinity Industries (TRN), FreightCar America (RAIL) and Wabtec (WAB). Reference Link