Econintersect: Week 51 of 2014 shows same week total rail traffic (from same week one year ago) improved according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR) traffic data. The rate of growth continues to be trong in all of the rolling averages reported below.
This analysis is looking for clues in the rail data to show the direction of economic activity – and is not necessarily looking for clues of profitability of the railroads. The weekly data is fairly noisy, and the best way to view it is to look at the rolling averages which generally are in a general growth cycle.
| Percent current rolling average is larger than the rolling average of one year ago | Current quantities accelerating or decelerating | Current rolling average accelerating or decelerating compared to the rolling average one year ago | |
| 4 week rolling average | 7.1% | accelerating | accelerating |
| 13 week rolling average | 4.3% | unchanged | accelerating |
| 52 week rolling average | 4.5% | accelerating | accelerating |
A summary of the data from the AAR:
Today, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported increased U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Dec. 20, 2014, with 307,598 total carloads, up 6 percent compared with the same week in 2013. Total U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 272,961 units, up 6.8 percent compared with the same week last year. Total combined U.S. weekly rail traffic was 580,559 carloads and intermodal units, up 6.4 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 25,290 carloads, up 19.9 percent; and, nonmetallic minerals with 34,616 carloads, up 18.6 percent. Commodities that posted a decrease compared with the same week in 2013 were led by farm products, excluding grain and food, with 16,342 carloads, down 8.5 percent.
For the first 51 weeks of 2014, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 14,924,384 carloads, up 3.8 percent compared with the same point last year, and 13,315,584 intermodal units, up 5.2 percent from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 51 weeks of 2014 was 28,239,968 carloads and intermodal units, up 4.4 percent from last year.
Coal is over 1/3 of the total railcar count, and this week is 9.6% higher than the production estimate in the comparable week in 2013. The middle line on the table below removes coal and grain from the changes in the railcar counts as neither of these commodities is economically intuitive.
| This Week | Carloads | Intermodal | Total |
| This week Year-over-Year | 6.0% | 6.8% | 6.4% |
| Ignoring coal and grain | 3.2% | ||
| Year Cumulative to Date | 3.8% | 5.2% | 4.4% |
[click on graph below to enlarge]
Current Rail Chart
/images/z rail1.png
From EIA.gov:
For the week ended December 13, 2014:
