Carload and intermodal volumes are mixed for week ending April 18, reports AAR

United States rail carload and intermodal volumes were mixed for the week ending April 18 the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week.

U.S. carloads were down 4.9 percent compared to the same week last year at 276,416, which was below the weeks ending April 11 and April 4, which came in at 287,349 and 277,894, respectively.

Six of the ten carload commodities tracked by the AAR were up annually for the week ending April 18. Motor vehicles and parts were up 7.2 percent to 18,008 carloads, and miscellaneous carloads were up 6.3 percent to 8,019 carloads. Grain dropped 15.8 percent to 18,166 carloads.

Intermodal volume was up 8.1 percent annually at 280,016 containers and trailers. This outpaced the week ending April 11 at 270,463 and the week ending April 4 at 271,127. AAR said this tally marks 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.

On a year-to-date basis through the first 15 weeks of 2015, rail carloads are down 0.7 percent annually at 4,208,741, and intermodal is up 1 percent at 3,840,204 units.