North American rail traffic up 3.3% for the week ending July 13

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending July 13. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 483,806 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.3% compared with the same week last year. Five of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included grain, up 5,557 carloads, to 21,606; farm products excl. grain, and food, up 736 carloads, to 17,137; and forest products, up 427 carloads, to 8,401. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 included coal, down 9,415 carloads, to 55,673; nonmetallic minerals, down 3,119 carloads, to 30,872; and motor vehicles and parts, down 2,910 carloads, to 11,763…North American rail volume for the week ending July 13, on 10 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 318,065 carloads, down 3.8% compared with the same week last year, and 349,079 intermodal units, up 10.9% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 667,144 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.3%. North American rail volume for the first 28 weeks of 2024 was 18,448,275 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.4% 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).