Rail, Intermodal Traffic Decline
Rail and intermodal freight traffic were down from a year ago for the week ended Saturday, the Association of American Railroads said.
Rail intermodal volume fell 3.6% year-over-year to 244,044 trailers and containers, AAR said in its weekly report Thursday.
Container volume fell 1.9% to 192,729 units, while trailer volume dropped 9.6% to 51,315.
Rail carload traffic totaled 342,941 cars, down 1.1% from a year ago.
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.