Econintersect: Week 30 of 2013 ending 27 July shows same week total rail traffic (from same week one year ago) grew according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR). Railcar count is up, and intermodal count is up.
- Weekly overall data is up strongly, and up even stronger ignoring coal and grain;
- Four week rolling average is improving, and better than the rolling average one year ago;
- 13 week rolling average is improving, and better than the rolling average one year ago;
- 52 week rolling average is improving, and better than the rolling average one year ago.
The dynamics clearly were declining, and this weeks data was so strong that it reversed the decline.
A summary of the data:
Six of the 10 carload commodity groups posted increases compared with the same week in 2012, led by petroleum and petroleum products with 13,076 carloads, up 23.2 percent. Commodities showing a decrease compared with the same week last year included grain with 17,213 carloads, down 7.6 percent.
For the first 30 weeks of 2013, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 8,315,858 carloads, down 1.3 percent from the same point last year, and 7,234,039 intermodal units, up 3.4 percent from last year. Total U.S. traffic for the first 30 weeks of 2013 was 15,549,897 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.8 percent from last year.
USA coal production is up 3.3% same week year-over-year, and coal over the last three months has become a neutral to positive dynamic on rail.
| This Week | Carloads | Intermodal | Total |
| This week Year-over-Year | 2.5% | 2.4% | 2.5% |
| Ignoring coal and grain | 5.0% | ||
| Year Cumulative to Date | -1.3% | 3.4% | 0.8% |
[click on graph below to enlarge]
Current Rail Chart
/images/z rail1.png
From EIA.gov:
For the week ended July 27, 2013:
Source: AAR
