North American rail traffic down 4.6% for the week ending January 13

The Association of American Railroads, AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending January 13. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 457,453 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.1% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending January 13 were 213,277 carloads, down 10.2% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 244,176 containers and trailers, up 1.9% compared to 2023. Three of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They were chemicals, up 2,591 carloads, to 33,076; petroleum and petroleum products, up 389 carloads, to 10,374; and forest products, up 80 carloads, to 8,193. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 included coal, down 10,924 carloads, to 58,478; grain, down 8,017 carloads, to 18,776; and , on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 316,875 carloads, down 9.1% compared with the same week last year, and 319,987 intermodal units, up 0.4% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 636,862 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.6%. North American rail volume for the first two weeks of 2024 was 1,222,708 carloads and intermodal units, down 1.5 % compared with 2023 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), Rail Vision (RVSN) and Wabtec (WAB).