AAR: U.S. freight traffic again

Much like the prior week, U.S. freight carload traffic slipped for the week ending April 23, but intermodal gained, measured against the comparable week of a year ago, according to results published Thursday by the Association of American Railroads. U.S. freight carload traffic fell 2.1% for the week compared with last year, while U.S. intermodal volume for the week rose 6.3% compared with a year ago.

AAR noted issues affecting the latest weekly U.S. figures include severe weather across a large portion of the Midwest and Southeast, as well as a non-holiday week in the 2010 comparison week. Only six of the 20 carload commodity groups posted increases from the comparable week in 2010.

Canadian freight carload traffic for the week ending April 23 moved up 1% from the comparable week a year ago, while intermodal also edged up a modest 0.6%. Mexican freight carload traffic, by contrast, fell 18.3% compared with the same week last year; Mexican intermodal volume, however, increased 1.8%.

Combined North American freight carload traffic for the first 16 weeks of 2011 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads was up 3.5% compared with the same point last year, while intermodal gained 7.9%.