Intermodal Traffic Declines 1.1% for Week
Rail intermodal traffic fell 1.1% for the week ended Saturday compared with a year ago, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday.
Container traffic declined 1.6% to 167,585 units, while trailer traffic dipped 0.7% to 49,024 units, AAR said in its weekly report.
Overall rail carload traffic rose 3.6% to 330,371 carloads, the group said.
Railroad volume is considered an important economic indicator. Intermodal traffic, which tends to be higher-valued merchandise than bulk commodities, uses trains for the long haul and trucks for the shorter distance at either end of the trip.