U.S. Rail Traffic up 3.4 % for the First Week of November

The Association of American Railroads reported gains in rail traffic for the week ending Nov.5, 2011, with U.S. railroads originating 298,465 carloads, up 3.4 percent compared with the same week last year. Intermodal volume for the week totaled 239,180 trailers and containers, up 3.5 percent compared with the same week last year.

Fifteen of the 20 carload commodity categories saw increases on U.S. railroads compared with the same year-ago period.

The largest gains were: metallic ores, up 1525 carloads or 23.2 percent; nonmetallic minerals, up 926 carloads or 23 percent; and metals and products, up 1555 carloads or 19.9 percent.

The groups showing a decrease in weekly traffic included: farm products excluding grain, down 224 carloads or 17.8 percent; grain, down 2717 carloads or 11.4 percent; and primary forest products, down 172 carloads or 10.5 percent.

For the first 44 weeks of 2011, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 12,843,242 carloads, up 1.8 percent from the same point last year, and 10,095,972 trailers and containers, up 5.2 percent from last year.