AAR reports weekly rail traffic for October and Week Ending October 31, 2015
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported weekly U.S. rail traffic, as well as volumes for October 2015 and the first ten months of 2015.
Carload traffic in October totaled 1,124,470 carloads, down 6.9 percent or 83,578 carloads from October 2014. U.S. railroads also originated 1,089,310 containers and trailers in October 2015, down 1.4 percent or 15,769 units from the same month last year. For October 2015, combined U.S. carload and intermodal originations were 2,213,780, down 4.3 percent or 99,347 carloads and intermodal units from October 2014. In October 2015, five of the 20 carload commodity categories tracked by the AAR each month saw carload gains compared with October 2014. This included: grain, up 12.9 percent or 11,366 carloads; miscellaneous carloads, up 27.3 percent or 5,293 carloads; and motor vehicles and parts, up 6.7 percent or 4,654 carloads. Commodities that saw declines in October 2015 from October 2014 included: coal, down 13.3 percent or 59,791 carloads; petroleum and petroleum products, down 18.6 percent or 12,209 carloads; and metallic ores, down 27.9 percent or 9,029 carloads. Excluding coal, carloads were down 3.1 percent or 23,787 carloads in October 2015 from October 2014. Total U.S. carload traffic for the first ten months of 2015 was 12,005,156 carloads, down 4.6 percent or 579,405 carloads, while intermodal containers and trailers were 11,506,577 units, up 2.1 percent or 234,100 containers and trailers when compared to the same period in 2014. For the first ten months of 2015, total rail traffic volume in the United States was 23,511,733 carloads and intermodal units, down 1.4 percent or 345,305 carloads and intermodal units from the same point last year. “The decline in rail traffic in October is consistent with the view that a divide has opened up between the service sector, which appears to be fairly robust in many respects, and manufacturing, which appears to be facing increasingly strong headwinds, including international turmoil and slowdowns in the energy sector,” said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. Week Ending October 31, 2015 Total U.S. weekly rail traffic for the week ending Oct. 31, 2015 was 549,707 carloads and intermodal units, down 6 percent compared with the same week last year. For the week there were 279,327 carloads, down 8.5 percent compared with the same week in 2014, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 270,380 containers and trailers, down 3.4 percent compared to 2014. Four of the 10 carload commodity groups posted increases compared with the same week in 2014. They included: miscellaneous carloads, up 15.7 percent to 9,860 carloads; chemicals, up 3.2 percent to 30,518; and motor vehicles and parts, up 2.2 percent to 18,293. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2014 included: petroleum and petroleum products, down 21.7 percent to 12,871 carloads; metallic ores and metals, down 19 percent to 22,871 carloads; and coal, down 14.4 percent to 95,894 carloads. North American rail volume for the week ending Oct. 31, 2015 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 372,471 carloads, down 8.8 percent compared with the same week last year, and 344,512 intermodal units, down 2.2 percent compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America, was 716,983 carloads and intermodal units, down 5.8 percent. North American rail volume for the first 43 weeks of 2015 was 30,612,532 carloads and intermodal units, down 1.2 percent compared with 2014. Canadian railroads reported 78,028 carloads for the week, down 10.4 percent, and 63,344 intermodal units, up 5.1 percent compared with the same week in 2014. For the first 43 weeks of 2015, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 5,925,389 carloads, containers and trailers, a decrease of 0.7 compared to last year. Mexican railroads reported 15,116 carloads for the week, down 7.7 percent compared with the same week last year, and 10,788 intermodal units, down 11.1 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 43 weeks of 2015 was 1,175,410 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, up 1.5 percent from the same point last year. Crude Oil Carload Update The AAR also reported U.S. Class I railroads originated 101,167 carloads of crude oil in the third quarter of 2015, down 9,901 carloads or 8.9 percent from the second quarter of 2015 and down 31,090 carloads or 23.5 percent from the third quarter of 2014
