The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported on Thursday that rail traffic in January was up 0.1 percent year-on-year to 1.14 million carloads, and 877,637 trailers and containers passed through US railroads in January 2012, a 1.7 percent increase over January 2011.
Canadian railroads also reported gains in January with a 3.8 percent increase to 289,293 carloads while trailers and containers rose to 185,293 units--a 3.1 percent increase from January 2011. Conversely, Mexican railroads reported a decrease of 13.5 percent last month to 50,473 carloads while trailers and containers rose to 34,430 units--a 24.7 percent increase.