North American rail traffic up 2.2% for the week ending May 4

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending May 4. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 463,106 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.0% compared with the same week last year…Total carloads for the week ending May 4 were 213,410 carloads, down 5.1% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 249,696 containers and trailers, up 4.9% compared to 2023. For the first 18 weeks of 2024, U.S. railroads reported a cumulative volume of 3,836,119 carloads, down 4.8% from the same point last year; and 4,536,912 intermodal units, up 8.7% from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 18 weeks of 2024 was 8,373,031 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 2.1% compared to last year. North American rail volume for the week ending May 4 on 10 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 324,302 carloads, down 0.9 % compared with the same week last year, and 337,489 intermodal units, up 5.3% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 661,791 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.2% .North American rail volume for the first 18 weeks of 2024 was 11,813,804 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).