Rail, Intermodal Fall Again
Rail carload and intermodal freight both fell last week compared with a year ago, continuing a trend this year, the Association of American Railroads said.
Rail intermodal volume fell 1.3% to 231,419 trailers and containers, the group said in its weekly report released Thursday.
Container volume rose 2%, but trailers plunged 11.8% compared with a year ago. Rail carloads fell 4.9%.
The declines were the eighth straight for intermodal and the seventh carload drop in the past eight weeks, according to AAR figures.
Total volume was estimated at 33.6 billion ton-miles, down 3.7% from last year.
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.