Rail carload traffic edged up but intermodal fell for week ended Saturday compared with a year ago, the Association of American Railroads said.
Intermodal traffic fell 3.1% to 225,205 trailers and containers, AAR said. Container volume fell 3.5% to 176,692 units, while trailers declined 1.3% to 48,513 units.
Overall rail carload traffic rose 1.2% to 316,031 carloads, the group said in its weekly report released 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.
Transport Topics