North American rail traffic up 2.8% for the week ending June15

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending June 15. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 493,138 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.4% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending June 15 were 222,759 carloads, down 2.5% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 270,379 containers and trailers, up 8.9% ompared to 2023. Five of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included chemicals, up 3,351 carloads, to 33,137; grain, up 3,319 carloads, to 19,150; and petroleum and petroleum products, up 951 carloads, to 11,046. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 included coal, down 10,024 carloads, to 56,064; nonmetallic minerals, down 3,299 carloads, to 31,197; and metallic ores and metals, down 841 carloads, to 21,227…North American rail volume for the week ending June 15, on 10 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 329,988 carloads, down 1.1 % compared with the same week last year, and 357,355 intermodal units, up 6.7 % compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 687,343 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.8% North American rail volume for the first 24 weeks of 2024 was 15,814,707 carloads and intermodal units, up 2% 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), Wabtec (WAB),Trinity Industries (TRN),Greenbrier (GBX), FreightCar America (RAIL), and Rail Vision (RVSN).