North American rail traffic up 2% for the week ending July 27

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending July 27. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 508,496 carloads and intermodal units, up 5.3% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending July 27 were 228,845 carloads, down 0.5% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 279,651 containers and trailers, up 10.5 % compared to 2023. Four of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included grain, up 5,676 carloads, to 20,665; farm products excl. grain, and food, up 1,461 carloads, to 16,811; and forest products, up 418 carloads, to 8,360. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 included coal, down 6,142 carloads, to 61,382; nonmetallic minerals, down 1,316 carloads, to 33,264; and metallic ores and metals, down 602 carloads, to 21,455. North American rail volume for the week ending July 27 on 10 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 329,218 carloads, down 2.4% compared with the same week last year, and 356,464 intermodal units, up 6.6% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 685,682 carloads and intermodal units, up 2%. North American rail volume for the first 30 weeks of 2024 was 19,797,795 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.3% 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),Greenbrier (GBX), Trinity Industries (TRN), Wabtec (WAB), FreightCar America (RAIL) and Rail Vision (RVSN).