Rail, Intermodal Traffic Gain
Rail carload and intermodal traffic rose for week ended Saturday compared with a year ago, the Association of American Railroads said.
Intermodal traffic edged up 0.3% to 238,277 trailers and containers, AAR said in its weekly report Thursday. Container volume rose 0.1% to 187,903 units, while trailers gained 0.8% to 50,374 units.
Overall rail carload traffic rose 3.2% from a year ago to 329,997 carloads, the group said.
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.