Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that total rail traffic--consisting of loadings originating in Canada and received from the US--was up 3.7 percent year-on-year in May to 26.1 million metric tons (mt). Freight traffic from the US led the gain, increasing 16.3 percent from May 2010 to 2.8 million mt.
Non-intermodal freight loadings, which represented the majority of total domestic cargo loaded in May, rose 2.7 percent year-on-year to 21 million mt. Intermodal freight loadings, which involve the movement of cargo between two or more modes of transportation, fell 0.2 percent year-on-year to 2.3 million mt in May.