Econintersect: Week 08 of 2013 ending February 23 shows same week total rail traffic above 2012 levels according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR):
- Four week rolling average is improving;
- 13 week rolling average is improving;
- 52 week rolling average is improving.
A summary of the data:
“Four of the 10 carload commodity groups posted increases compared with the same week in 2012, led by petroleum products, up 66.4 percent. Commodities showing a decrease included grain, down 17.3 percent and metallic ores and metals, down 10 percent. For the first eight weeks of 2013, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 2,169,628 carloads, down 4.6 percent from the same point last year, and 1,902,470 intermodal units, up 7.3 percent from last year. Total U.S. traffic for the first eight weeks of 2013 was 4,072,098 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.6 percent from last year.”
USA coal production is down 7.2% 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 | -1.2% | 11.0% | 4.1% |
| Ignoring coal and grain | 4.1% | ||
| Year Cumulative to Date | -4.6% | 7.3% | 0.6% |
[click on graph below to enlarge]
Current Rail Chart
/images/z rail1.pn
From EIA.gov:
For the week ended February 23, 2013:
Source: AAR
