Rail Freight Down Again

Freight traffic on US railroads remained depressed for the week ended June 20 compared with the same period last year, the Association of American Railroads reported. US railroads reported originating 261,717 cars, down 17.7% from the same week in 2008. Regionally, carloadings were down 11.9% in the West and 25.2% in the East.

Intermodal volume of 187,759 trailers or containers was down 17.8% from the same week last year. Container volume fell 12% and trailer volume dropped 39.0%.

Total volume on US railroads for the week ending June 20 was estimated at 27.7 billion ton-miles, off 16.6% from the same week last year.

For the first 24 weeks of 2009, US railroads reported cumulative volume of 6,323,360 carloads, down 19.4% from 2008; 4,458,136 trailers or containers, down 16.9%; and total volume of an estimated 671.0 billion ton-miles, down 18.3 percent. Canadian railroads reported volume of 59,912 cars for the week, down 23.7% from last year, and 39,574 trailers or containers, down 18.2 %. For the first 24 weeks of 2009, Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 1,419,664 carloads, down 24.1% from last year; and 967,286 trailers or containers, down 15.3%.

Mexican railroads reported originated volume of 13,291 cars, down 8.1% from the same week last year, and 4,816 trailers or containers, off 19.6%. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 24 weeks of 2009 was reported as 269,451 carloads, down 14.2% from last year; and 114,461 trailers or containers, down 20.9%.