Western Railroad Discussion > Freight traffic -- SWEIN

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Nov. 29, 2012 – The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported mixed weekly rail traffic for the week ending November 24, 2012, with U.S. railroads originating 252,931 carloads, down 4.6 percent compared with the same week last year. Intermodal volume for the week totaled 194,538 trailers and containers, up 1.9 percent compared with the same week last year.

Twelve of the 20 carload commodity groups posted increases compared with the same week in 2011, with petroleum products, up 63.6 percent; farm products excluding grain, up 24.8 percent, and lumber and wood products, up 17.1 percent. The groups showing a decrease in weekly traffic included metallic ores, down 24.7 percent; grain, down 16.7 percent, and coal, down 12.2 percent.

Weekly carload volume on Eastern railroads was down 8.2 percent compared with the same week last year. In the West, weekly carload volume was down 2.6 percent compared with the same week in 2011.

For the first 47 weeks of 2012, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 13,290,121 carloads, down 3.1 percent from the same point last year, and 11,137,923 trailers and containers, up 3.4 percent from last year.

Rest: http://www.aar.org/AAR/NewsAndEvents/Freight-Rail-Traffic/2012/11/29-railtraffic.aspx