Despite a recent glimmer of hope, rail traffic was down save for three of the 10 carload commodity groups posting year-over-year increases for the week ended May 11, according to figures released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
THE FINANCIAL EDGE, MAY 2019 – In a recent TED talk, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey suggested that, in an attempt to combat abusive speech and harassment, Twitter would consider moving from threads written by individuals to topic threads. Dorsey suggested these interest networks would be easier to monitor for Twitter code of conduct breeches.
In another possible sign that rail traffic is on the rise, total carloads and North American rail volume were slightly up, some international intermodal volume saw rises and four of the 10 carload commodity groups notched year-over-year increases, according to figures released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) for the week ended May 4.
U.S. rail freight traffic appears to be on an upswing, based on figures released by the Association of American Railroads for the week ended April 27. The month of April 2019, though down compared to the prior-year period, was much improved over March 2019. Year to date, traffic is down compared to the prior-year four-month period, but the gap appears to be narrowing.
As has been the case for the past couple of weeks, three of the 10 carload commodity groups posted a year-over-year increase while all other traffic suffered, according to figures released on April 24 by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) for the week ended April 20.
Continuing on the heels of last week’s trend, three of the 10 carload commodity groups posted a year-over-year increase—and total carloads were slightly up—but all other traffic declined, according to figures released on April 17 by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) for the week ended April 13.
LEGISLATIVE REPORT, APRIL 2019 – Knock, knock. Who’s there? If at the door are those laboring in official Washington, the answer is, “many new faces”—new congressional committee chairs, regulators, association chiefs, lobbyists and labor negotiators. Does not danger dwell where unfamiliarity and uncertainty lurk?
Three of the 10 carload commodity groups posted a year-over-year increase, but, as has been the case for some time now, all other rail traffic has declined, according to figures released on April 10 by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) for the week ended April 6.
Eighteen North American trade associations representing railroads, truckers and their customers that ship between the United States and Mexico have joined forces to tell the Trump Administration and Congress that restricting cross-border trade by either complete shutdown or slowdown, as President Trump has threatened, will have serious, highly damaging economic and social consequences.
We traditionally have reported the Association of American Railroads weekly compilation of freight traffic statistics as “straight news,” with commentary restricted to what the AAR may include in the release, which is rare. In this case, there’s a lot going on here, enough to warrant some analysis. The figures are all here, along with supporting charts. But don’t take them at face value.