Rail/Intermodal
For the first time since mid-March, North American rail carload traffic was higher than it was a year earlier, according to data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR). Total carload traffic was up 2.1% y/y during the week ended June 29 after being down 1.6% y/y during the previous week.
Even though coal volume softened a bit from the prior week, its 3% deficit versus the same week last year was the sector’s best performance since the fifth week of the year when rail traffic in general was rebounding from weather impacts earlier in January.
Moreover, the prior-year comparisons were favorable for coal, which last year was in the middle of its biggest slide of 2023 aside from late December.
Coal’s improvement was not the only factor in carloads y/y improvement, however. During the previous week, only four of the 10 commodity groups tracked by AAR were up y/y. In the latest week, seven of 10 groups were higher.
Although the latest week was better y/y for carload than the week before, intermodal traffic was not as strong y/y. Intermodal volume was up 4.6%; in the prior week, it was up 5.4%. Total rail traffic was stronger at 3.3% higher y/y, up from 1.9% during the week ended June 22.
For the year to date, total rail traffic is up 2.0% y/y as carload is down 3.3% but intermodal is up 7.8%. Technically, one more commodity group is higher y/y for the YTD, but farm products carload volume is up just 0.1%.
Other commodity groups still posting y/y strength for the year are petroleum/petroleum products (8.6%), chemicals (4.1%), grain (2.1%), and motor vehicles and parts (1.9%).
