Canada Rail Traffic up 2% for the First Week of November

Canadian railroads reported 80,439 carloads for the week ended Nov.5, 2011, up 2 percent compared with the same week last year, and 52,025 trailers and containers, up 7.2 percent compared with 2010, according to the Association of American Railroads.

Eleven of the 20 carload commodity categories saw increases on Canadian railroads compared with the same year-ago period.

The largest gains were: iron and steel scrap, up 325 carloads or 40.8 percent; metal and products, up 613 or 32.2 percent; and waste and nonferrous scrap, up 111 or 22.3 percent.

The groups showing a decrease in weekly traffic included: coke, down 100 carloads or 16.6 percent; pulp, paper and allied products, down 365 carloads or 10.1 percent; and stone, clay and glass products, down 83 carloads or 5.8 percent.

For the first 44 weeks of 2011, Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 3,323,095 carloads, up 3 percent from the same point last year, and 2,126,593 trailers and containers, up 1.7 percent from last year.