The volume of rail freight carried in Canada totalled 30.5 million tonnes in April, up 1.7 per cent from the same month last year, said Statistics Canada Wednesday.
Freight originating in Canada rose 2.5 per cent to 27.1 million tonnes.
Non-intermodal freight rose 3 per cent to 296,000 carloads. The amount of freight loaded into these cars totalled 24.2 million tonnes, up 2.5 per cent.
In the US, the Association of American Railroads Wednesday reported US rail traffic for the week ending June 20 was 550,839 carloads and intermodal units, down 2.4 per cent compared with the same week last year.
Total carloads were 273,932 carloads, down 6.1 per cent compared with the same week in 2014, while US weekly intermodal volume was 276,907 containers and trailers, up 1.6 per cent compared to 2014.
Railcar Loadings
Four of the ten carload commodity groups in the US posted an increase compared with the same week in 2014, said the Association of American Railroads.
They included: miscellaneous carloads, up 15.7 per cent to 8,946 carloads; grain, up 3.4 per cent to 18,271; and motor vehicles and parts, up 1.9 per cent to 18,682 carloads.
Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2014 included: coal, down 13.7 per cent to 95,095 carloads; metallic ores and metals, down 8.1 per cent to 25,181 carloads; and forest products, down 7.3 per cent to 11,119 carloads.