Rail/Intermodal
Rail remains a tale of two sectors as overall carload traffic continues to run below prior-year levels while intermodal volume is running substantially above comparable 2023 levels.
Through the first 10 weeks of the year, total North American carload volume is down 4.2% y/y while total intermodal volume is up 7.4%. Intermodal’s strength as well as y/y improvement in chemicals and petroleum loadings were enough to produce a 1.4% y/y gain in total rail traffic through week 10.
The weakest y/y comparisons are in coal and nonmetallic minerals, which are down 12.1% and 9%, respectively through week 10. Grain also is down, though not as sharply at 6% y/y. Motor vehicles and parts are neither helping nor hurting volume comparisons as those carloads are flat y/y.
Rail traffic changed little week over week as total carloads were down 0.8% and intermodal volume was down 1.5% Economically sensitive freight ticked up 0.2% from the prior week.
Employment Data
The Surface Transportation Board this week rejected a bid by Union Pacific to keep certain employment data confidential. STB recently extended for another year a requirement that U.S.-based Class I's file employment data that the board initially ordered to be filed in May 2022. The recent extension also ordered the carriers to provide details on plans for hiring and retention.
In announcing the decision on UP’s request, Chairman Martin Oberman emphasized STB’s commitment to transparency, saying that UP had not shown competitive harm from the release of the data.
“On the contrary, given the crucial importance of reporting on employment data to the restoration of robust rail service and the growth of the national economy, the public’s right of access to this information is paramount,” Oberman said.
