Weekly rail traffic's summer slump

Railway Age reports:

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported on July 13th U.S. rail traffic for the week ending July 9, 2016. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 442,113 carloads and intermodal units, down 17.2% compared with the same week last year.

Total carloads for the week ending July 9 were 226,615 carloads, down 16.5% compared with the same week in 2015, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 215,498 containers and trailers, down 17.9% compared to 2015.

Two of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2015. They were miscellaneous carloads, up 12.2% to 9,283 carloads; and grain, up 12% to 20,746 carloads. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2015 included coal, down 23.4% to 72,998 carloads; nonmetallic minerals, down 20.9% to 29,069 carloads; petroleum and petroleum products, down 19% to 10,432 carloads and motor vehicles and parts, also down 19% to 12,399 carloads.

For the first 27 weeks of 2016, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 6,521,831 carloads, down 12.5% from the same point last year; and 6,928,501 intermodal units, down 2.7% from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 27 weeks of 2016 was 13,450,332 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 7.7% compared to last year.

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