Carload, intermodal traffic keep gaining

U.S. freight carload traffic rose 8.8% for the week ending Oct. 9, compared with the same week in 2009, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday.

Fifteen of the 19 carload commodity groups increased from the comparable week in 2009, with metallic ores posting the most significant gain, up 199.7%. Non-metallic minerals, down 18.9%, registered the largest decline for the week.

U.S. intermodal traffic rose 13.1% compared with a year ago; container volume gained 14.1%, while trailer volume rose 7.4%.

Canadian freight carload traffic rose 10.9% from last year’s levels, while intermodal advanced 15.1%.  Mexican freight carload traffic rose 16.2% from the same week last year, while intermodal increased 14.9%.

Combined North American freight carload volume for the first 40 weeks of 2010 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads was up 9.8% from the comparable period in 2009, while intermodal rose 15.1%.

AAR said it “will no longer report 2010 weekly rail traffic with comparison weekly data in 2008, since October 2008 marked the beginning o fthe recession-related downturn in rail traffic.”