North American rail traffic up 3.8% for the week ending November 11

The Association of American Railroads or AAR reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending November 11. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 497,348 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.4% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending November 11 were 233,745 carloads, up 2.3% compared with the same week in 2022, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 263,603 containers and trailers, up 4.4% compared to 2022. Seven of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2022. They included coal, up 1,793 carloads, to 69,213; motor vehicles and parts, up 1,707 carloads, to 16,542; and metallic ores and metals, up 1,520 carloads, to 19,705. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2022 were nonmetallic minerals, down 1,168 carloads, to 31,294; farm products excl. grain, and food, down 113 carloads, to 16,801; and chemicals, down 95 carloads, to 30,673. North American rail volume for the week ending November 11 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 347,446 carloads,up 4.5% compared with the same week last year, and 345,647 intermodal units, up 3.2% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 693,093 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.8%. North American rail volume for the first 45 weeks of 2023 was 29,526,956 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.2% compared with 2022. Publicly traded companies in the space include CSX (CSX), Canadian National (CNI), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Kansas City Southern (KSU), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Union Pacific (UNP), Trinity Industries (TRN), Greenbrier (GBX), FreightCar America (RAIL), Wabtec (WAB) and Rail Vision (RVSN).