The US Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported September 9 US rail traffic for the week ending September 5, 2020, as well as volumes for August 2020.
US railroads originated 898,227 carloads in August 2020, down -15%, or 156,797 carloads, from August 2019. US railroads also originated 1,122,954 containers and trailers in August 2020, up +3%, or 33,115 units, from the same month last year.
For the first 36 weeks of 2020, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 7,670,555 carloads, down -16% from the same point last year; and 8,897,816 intermodal units, down -7% from last year.
Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 36 weeks of 2020 was 16,568,371 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of -11.3% compared to last year.
Meanwhile, for the week ending September 5, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 509,637 carloads and intermodal units, up +8.6% compared with the same week last year.
Total carloads for the week ending September 5 were 222,298 carloads, down -7% compared with the same week in 2019, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 287,339 containers and trailers, up +25% compared to 2019.
Reversing sharp drops last month, Canadian railroads reported 78,580 carloads, up +1%, and 73,558 intermodal units, up +11% compared with the same week in 2019.
For the first 36 weeks of 2020, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 5,011,733 carloads, containers and trailers, down -8%.
