The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week that United States rail carload and intermodal volumes were mixed for the week ending April 25.
U.S. carloads were down 1.6 percent at 278,294 carloads, which topped the week ending April 18 at 276,416 and was below the week ending April 11 at 287,349.
Only one of the ten carload commodity categories tracked by the AAR saw an annual gain for the week ending April 25, with motor vehicles and parts up 1 percent to 18,894 carloads. Coal dipped 13.3 percent to 98,405 carloads, and grain fell 8.6 percent to 19,909 carloads.
Intermodal volume was up 5.6 percent at 279,012 containers and trailers, which was shy of the 280,016 recorded during the week of April 18 and stands as the second highest weekly output it has ever recorded as well as the first time container and trailer traffic was higher than carloads for a one-week period. The most recent weekly total eclipsed the week ending April 11 at 270,643.
On a year-to-date basis through the first 16 weeks of 2015, rail carloads are down 1.2 percent annually at 4,487,035, and intermodal is up 1.3 percent at 4,119,216 units.