US rail freight traffic drops in March year-on-year

Thursday, 02 April 2015 01:41:25 (GMT+3)   |   San Diego
       

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported Wednesday that US rail traffic in March totaled 1,117,029 carloads, down 3.4 percent from March 2014. US railroads also originated 1,084,136 containers and trailers in March 2015, up 5.7 percent from the same month last year. For March 2015, combined US carload and intermodal originations were 2,201,165, up 0.8 percent over March 2014. 

In March 2015, eight of the 20 carload commodity categories tracked by the AAR each month saw carload gains compared with March 2014.  This included grain, up 10.9 percent or 8,896 carloads; metallic ores, up 19.1 percent or 3,377 carloads; and crushed stone, sand and gravel, up 1.8 percent or 1,481 carloads. Commodities that saw declines in March 2015 from March 2014 included coal, down 6.9 percent or 31,205 carloads; primary metal products, down 16.2 percent or 6,756 carloads; and petroleum and petroleum products, down 7 percent or 4,170 carloads.

Excluding coal, carloads were down 1.2 percent or 8,588 carloads in March 2015 from March 2014 and when both coal and grain are excluded, US carloads were down 2.8 percent or 17,484 carloads last month.

"Like other key economic indicators, rail traffic is presenting a mixed message," said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. "Rail intermodal traffic rebounded well in March, but many carload commodities did not.  Coal is facing a number of headwinds. There are risks going forward, to be sure, but for now we see no reason to think that the economy won't continue its recent pattern of relatively modest growth."


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