North American rail traffic up 1.6% for the week ending May 18

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending May 18. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 474,886 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.9% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending May 18 were 214,092 carloads, down 4.8% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 260,794 containers and trailers, up 6.2% compared to 2023. Five of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included grain, up 2,004 carloads, to 19,917; petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,007 carloads, to 10,330; and chemicals, up 714 carloads, to 32,294. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 included coal, down 12,113 carloads, to 50,520; metallic ores and metals, down 1,872 carloads, to 20,570; and nonmetallic minerals, down 1,137 carloads, to 31,798….North American rail volume for the week ending May 18, on 10 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 323,396 carloads, down 1.4% compared with the same week last year, and 346,036 intermodal units, up 4.5% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 669,432 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.6% North American rail volume for the first 20 weeks of 2024 was 13,150,619 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.1% compared with 2023. Publicly traded companies in the space include CSX (CSX), Canadian National (CNI), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Union Pacific (UNP), Rail Vision (RVSN), Greenbrier (GBX), FreightCar America (RAIL) and Trinity Industries (TRN).