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Rail and intermodal traffic continued to decline along with the economy last week, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday.

Intermodal traffic fell 12.9% compared with the same week a year ago, to 183,795 units for the week ended Saturday. Container volume fell 7.7% and trailers fell 30.9%.

Rail carload traffic fell 14.7% to 276,030 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.