Econintersect: Week 06 of 2013 ending February 09 shows same week total rail traffic above 2012 levels according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR). The AAR completely changed their methodology on reporting total rail traffic – so this is a data reset week.
- Four week rolling average is degrading;
- 13 week rolling average is degrading;
- 52 week rolling average is improving.
A summary of the data:
“Six of the ten carload commodity groups posted increases compared with the same week in 2012, with petroleum products, up 65 percent, and nonmetallic minerals and products, up 14 percent. The groups showing a decrease in weekly traffic included grain, down 17.3 percent, and metallic ores and metals, down 13.5 percent. ”
USA coal production is down 9.3% same week year-over-year, and the cumulative effect on rail carloads continues to drag traffic down.
This Week | Carloads | Intermodal | Total |
This week Year-over-Year | -2.2% | 7.5% | 2.2% |
Year Cumulative to Date | -5.6% | 5.5% | -0.7% |
[click on graph below to enlarge]
Current Rail Chart
/images/z rail1.pn
From EIA.gov:
For the week ended February 02, 2013:
Source: AAR