North American rail traffic up 6.3% for the week ending March 16

The Association of American Railroads, AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending March 16. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 474,596 carloads and intermodal units, up 6.7% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending March 16 were 219,586 carloads, down 0.6% compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 255,010 containers and trailers, up 13.8% compared to 2023. Seven of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2023. They included grain, up 3,638 carloads, to 21,108; chemicals, up 2,186 carloads, to 33,134; and petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,836 carloads, to 9,954. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2023 were coal, down 12,033 carloads, to 55,990; metallic ores and metals, down 903 carloads, to 18,683; and forest products, down 92 carloads, to 8,431. North American rail volume for the week ending March 16 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads totaled 332,985 carloads, up 1% compared with the same week last year, and 338,651 intermodal units, up 12.1% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 671,636 carloads and intermodal units, up 6.3%. North American rail volume for the first 11 weeks of 2024 was 7,138,853 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.8% compared with 2023…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), Greenbrier (GBX),Trinity Industries (TRN), FreightCar America (RAIL), Wabtec (WAB) and Rail Vision (RVSN).