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Intermodal Traffic Falls 3.7% for Week
Rail intermodal traffic fell 3.7% for the week ended Saturday compared with the same week last year, the Association of American Railroads said.
Containers plunged 4.3% to 176,308 units from a year ago, while trailers fell 1.5% to 48,751 units, AAR said in its weekly rail traffic report released Thursday.
For the month of April, intermodal traffic declined 2.1% from a year ago, to 1.12 million units, AAR said.
Overall rail carload traffic rose 2.1% for the week to 335,761 carloads, and 0.9% for the month to 1.67 million units, 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.