Overall rail traffic rose a notch, but intermodal levels fell from a year ago for the week ended Saturday, the Association of American Railroads said.
Rail intermodal volume dropped 2% year-over-year to 253,244 trailers and containers, AAR said in its weekly report Thursday.
Container volume was flat at 198,691 units, while trailer volume dropped 8.8% to 54,553 units. Overall rail carload traffic totaled 338,364 cars, an increase of 0.2% from a year ago, 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.
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