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Rail, Intermodal Traffic Continue to Fall
Rail and intermodal traffic continued their weeks-long decline last week, the Association of American Railroads said.
Intermodal traffic fell 25.3% compared with the same week a year ago, to 168,194 units for the week ended Saturday. Containers volumes fell 23.4% and trailers fell 32.3%.
Rail carload traffic fell 14.2% to 324,812 units, AAR said in its weekly report Thursday.
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.