The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported Monday that US rail carloads fell 0.2 percent year-on-year in April to 1,177,277 carloads. Nonetheless, intermodal traffic in April increased 9 percent compared with April 2010 to 914,518 trailers and containers.
"April's carload decline is the first year-over-year monthly decline since February 2010," said AAR Senior Vice President John Gray. "April 2010 was a relatively strong month and therefore a difficult comparison, and coal traffic was down for the first time since July 2010. April's carload decline was offset by continued intermodal growth. Rail traffic deserves a close watch over the next several months because it's a useful gauge of the strength of the economy."
Steel-related gains were still observed year-on-year in April, including metallic ores (up 19.4 percent) and motor vehicles and parts (up 9.6 percent). Coal carloads fell 2.9 percent in April.