The US Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported March 3 US and Canadian rail traffic volumes for February 2021. US railroads originated 824,636 carloads in February, down -11%, or 102,972 carloads, from February 2020. US railroads also originated 1,015,995 containers and trailers in February, up +2%, or 18,184 units, from the same month last year.
Total US carload traffic for the first 2 months of 2021 was 1,754,939 carloads, down -6.5%, or 122,771 carloads, from the same period last year; and 2,189,215 intermodal units, up +7%, or 144,732 containers and trailers, from last year.
Total combined US traffic for the first 8 weeks of 2021 was 3,944,154 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of +0.6% compared to last year.
Regarding North American rail volume for the week ending March 6, 2021, Canadian railroads reported 81,996 carloads for the week, down -9%, and 76,123 intermodal units, up +19% compared with the same week in 2020.
For the first 9 weeks of 2021, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 1,343,654 carloads, containers and trailers, up +5%.