AAR reports U.S. rail carload and intermodal units are down for week ending October 5

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week that United States rail carload and intermodal volumes saw annual declines for the week ending October 5.

Rail carloads, at 247,028, decreased 8.5% and were below the weeks ending September 28 and September 21 at 250,450 and 250,794, respectively.

AAR said that two of the ten carload commodity groups it tracks saw annual gains, including: chemicals, up 1,247 carloads, to 32,610; and petroleum and petroleum products, up 57 carloads, to 12,592. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2018 included coal, down 12,097 carloads, to 76,970; metallic ores and metals, down 3,271 carloads, to 18,898; and grain, down 2,995 carloads, to 19,698.

Intermodal container and trailers, at 268,033 units, were off 5.8% annually and were down compared to the weeks ending September 28 and September 21 at 278,886 and 277,876, respectively.

Through the first 40 weeks of 2019, AAR reported that U.S. carloads, at 10,111,274, were off 3.9% annually, and intermodal units, at 10,657,959, are down 4.1%.