Industry News

Rail Traffic Down in October

November 7, 2008 | 01:00 p.m. CST

Rail freight traffic on U.S. railroads was down during October compared to the same month last year, reports the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

U.S. carloads were down 2.8 percent from October 2007, while intermodal was down 2.9 percent from October 2007. Four of the 19 major commodity categories tracked by the AAR saw U.S. carload increases in October 2008 compared to October 2007.

Commodities showing substantial gains last month were coal, up 6.1 percent; metallic ores, up 6.1 percent, and the catch-all "all other carloads," 23.5 percent. Commodities showing the biggest decreases in October were motor vehicles and equipment, down 22.7 percent; grain, down 13.4 percent, and metals and metal products, down 16.0 percent.

For the first 10 months of 2008, total U.S. rail carloads were down 0.5 percent to 14,316,427 carloads. U.S. intermodal traffic, which consists of trailers and containers on flat cars and is not included in carload figures, was down 3.1 percent for the first 10 months of '08 to 9,922,130 units. Total volume was estimated at 1.49 trillion ton-miles, up 0.5 percent from last year.

"With the kind of economic news we've had over the past few weeks, a decline in rail traffic in October shouldn't surprise anyone," said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. "Auto-related rail traffic remains weak because auto sales are weak; grain traffic is down in part because rail grain traffic last year at this time was at record highs and because of the stronger dollar recently. Coal was really the lone bright spot for U.S. freight railroads in October."