North American rail traffic down 9.8% for the week ending July 8

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending July 8. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 407,843 carloads and intermodal units, down 5.1% compared with the same week last year.Total carloads for the week ending July 8 were 197,086 carloads, down 2.3% compared with the same week in 2022, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 210,757 containers and trailers, down 7.6% compared to 2022.Five of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2022. They included metallic ores and metals, up 1,243 carloads, to 18,031; nonmetallic minerals, up 759 carloads, to 30,033; and petroleum and petroleum products, up 445 carloads, to 8,843. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2022 included grain, down 3,685 carloads, to 12,629; coal, down 1,745 carloads, to 58,369; and forest products, down 1,373 carloads, to 7,140. North American rail volume for the week ending July 8, 2023, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 296,283 carloads, down 2.7% compared with the same week last year, and 260,069 intermodal units, down 16.8% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 556,352 carloads and intermodal units, down 9.8%. North American rail volume for the first 27 weeks of 2023 was 17,384,731 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.2% 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), Greenbrier (GBX), Trinity (TRN), FreightCar America (RAIL) and Wabtec (WAB).