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Rail, Intermodal Traffic Fall for Week
Rail and intermodal traffic fell for the week ended Saturday from a year ago, the Association of American Railroads said.
Intermodal traffic fell 16%, led by a 29.9% drop in trailers to 34,455 units. Container traffic fell 12.1% to 155,258 units.
Carload rail traffic fell 18.4% to 261,380 carloads from 313,286, AAR said.
For the month of January, intermodal traffic fell 12.9% to 788,115 units, while carload traffic fell 17.2% to 1,067,548 carloads.
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.