AAR reports carload and intermodal declines for week ending September 24

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week that United States rail carload and intermodal volumes again saw annual declines for the week ending September 24.

Carloads dropped 6.1 percent annually to 268,524, which is below the 270,336 reported for the week ending September 17 and ahead of the 252,627 for the week ending September 10.

The AAR said that four of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2015, including grain, up 13.4 percent to 25,129 carloads; miscellaneous carloads, up 3.6 percent to 10,488 carloads; and chemicals, up 2.3 percent to 30,194 carloads. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2015 included petroleum and petroleum products, down 20.2 percent to 10,379 carloads; coal, down 13.9 percent to 87,486 carloads; and forest products, down 13.2 percent to 9,928 carloads.

Intermodal containers and trailers fell 3.5 percent annually to 271,085, which was ahead of the week ending September 17 at 267,568 and the week ending September 10 at 230,267.

On a year-to-date basis through the first 38 weeks of 2016, carloads are down 10.7 percent at 9,460,059, and intermodal containers and trailers are off 3.2 percent at 9,811,598.