Econintersect: Week 11 of 2014 shows same week total rail traffic (from same week one year ago) grew according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR) traffic data. The rolling averages are generally positive.
The weekly data is fairly noisy, and the best way to view it is to look at the rolling averages:
| Percent current rolling average is larger than the rolling average of one year ago | Current rate of growth accelerating or decelerating | Current rolling average accelerating or decelerating compared to the rolling average one year ago | |
| 4 week rolling average | 3.5% | accelerating | accelerating |
| 13 week rolling average | 1.8% | decelerating | accelerating |
| 52 week rolling average | 2.0% | accelerating | accelerating |
A summary of the data from the AAR:
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported increased U.S. rail traffic for the week ending March 15, 2014 with 289,375 total U.S. carloads, up 3.1 percent compared with the same week last year. Total U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 255,991 units, up 11.9 percent compared with the same week last year. Total combined U.S. weekly rail traffic was 545,366 carloads and intermodal units, up 7 percent compared with the same week last year.
Seven of the 10 carload commodity groups posted increases compared with the same week in 2013, led by grain with 21,045 carloads, up 21 percent. Commodities showing a decrease compared with the same week last year were led by motor vehicles and parts with 17,936 carloads, down 8 percent.
For the first 11 weeks of 2014, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 3,009,897 carloads, even compared with the same point last year, and 2,677,098 intermodal units, up 2.3 percent from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 11 weeks of 2014 was 5,686,995 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.1 percent from last year.
USA coal production is down 0.4% same week year-over-year – and coal accounts for almost half of carloads.
Here is a look at the weekly data comparing it to the same week one year ago, backing out economically less intuitive coal and grain, and comparing growth year-to-date.
| This Week | Carloads | Intermodal | Total |
| This week Year-over-Year | 3.1% | 11.9% | 7.0% |
| Ignoring coal and grain | not avail | ||
| Year Cumulative to Date | 0.0% | 2.3% | 1.1% |
[click on graph below to enlarge]
Current Rail Chart
/images/z rail1.png
From EIA.gov:
For the week ended March 15, 2014:
