North American rail traffic up 5.7% for the week ending December 16

The Association of American Railroads, AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending December 16. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 502,583 carloads and intermodal units, up 7.6% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending December 16 were 234,449 carloads, up 6.5% compared with the same week in 2022, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 268,134 containers and trailers, up 8.6% compared to 2022.All of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2022. They included coal, up 3,873 carloads, to 65,450; grain, up 2,599 carloads, to 24,275; and chemicals, up 2,337 carloads, to 32,483. North American rail volume for the week ending December 16, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 347,860 carloads, up 4.7% compared with the same week last year, and 352,485 intermodal units, up 6.7% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 700,345 carloads and intermodal units, up 5.7%. North American rail volume for the first 50 weeks of 2023 was 32,902,626 carloads and intermodal units, down 2.7% 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).