North American rail traffic up 0.5% for the week ending April 27

The Association of American Railroads or AAR, reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending April 27, as well as volumes for April 2024. U.S. railroads originated 848,882 carloads in April 2024, down 6.5%, or 58,751 carloads, from April 2023. U.S. railroads also originated 1,018,569 containers and trailers in April 2024, up 8.6% , or 80,471 units, from the same month last year. Combined U.S. carload and intermodal originations in April 2024 were 1,867,451, up 1.2 % or 21,720 carloads and intermodal units from April 2023. “U.S. rail carloads declined in April primarily due to decreased coal shipments,” said Rand Ghayad, Chief Economist at the Association of American Railroads. “Excluding coal, year-over-year carload volumes have experienced a three-month consecutive increase. Total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 476,302 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.7% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending April 27 were 214,414 carloads, down 6.4 % compared with the same week in 2023, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 261,888 containers and trailers, up 7.5% compared to 2023. North American rail volume for the week ending April 27, on 10 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 325,396 carloads, down 5.3% compared with the same week last year, and 350,692 intermodal units, up 6.6% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 676,088 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.5 % North American rail volume for the first 17 weeks of 2024 was 11,142,754 carloads and intermodal units, up 2% compared with 2023. Publicly traded companies in the space include CSX (CSX), Canadian National (CNI), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Union Pacific (UNP), Rail Vision (RVSN), Greenbrier (GBX), FreightCar America (RAIL) and Trinity Industries (TRN).