Freight rail activity in Canada up 4.3 percent

Thursday, 29 September 2011 10:13:58 (GMT+2)

Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that total freight rail traffic in Canada rose 4.3 percent to 25.8 million metric tons (mt) in July from July 2010.

Regarding domestic rail traffic in Canada, total rail loadings were 22.7 million mt, up 2 percent year-on-year in July. Non-intermodal freight loadings, which represented about 90 percent of total domestic cargo loaded in July, rose 2.2 percent to 20.4 million mt.

While loadings of many commodities increased in July, iron ores and concentrates and coal were among those that registered declines.

Internally, traffic from the US surged 24.7 percent in July to 3 million mt from the same month last year.