The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported that volumes for both rail carload and intermodal continue to head up.
For the week ending October 25, carload volumes were up 3.5 percent annually at 307,348, which topped the weeks ending October 18 and October 11 at 297,130 and 298,376, respectively.
Intermodal units, at 278,767 containers and trailers were up 6.7 percent compared to the same week last year and marks the third best week for intermodal ever recorded based on AAR’s data. It is higher than the 272,554 recorded the week of October 18 and the week of October 11, which checked in at 273,436.
Seven of the ten carload commodities tracked by the AAR were up annually for the week ending October 25. Petroleum and petroleum products were up 20 percent, and grain was off 10 percent.
For the first 43 weeks of 2014, carloads are up 3.6 percent annually at 12,525,351 and intermodal is up 5.5 percent at 11,179,260 trailers and containers.