Week 50 of 2017 shows same week total rail traffic (from same week one year ago) expanded according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR) traffic data. The economically intuitive sectors remain in expansion and the rolling average growth rate improved.
Analyst Opinion of the Rail Data
We review this data set to understand the economy. If coal and grain are removed from the analysis, this week it improved 7.6 % (meaning that the predictive economic elements improved year-over-year). The year-over-year growth rate of the predictive elements is at a three year high.
Intermodal transport again grew strongly year-over-year this week – which is the real economically positive element or rail transport.
The following graph compares the four week moving averages for the rail economically intuitive sectors (red line) vs. total movements (blue line): Rail’s intuitive sectors have been bouncing around the zero growth line for most of 2017.
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 (carloads [including coal and grain] and intermodal combined).
| 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 | +4.0 % | accelerating | accelerating |
| 13 week rolling average | +2.5 % | accelerating | accelerating |
| 52 week rolling average | +3.8 % | accelerating | accelerating |
A summary of the data from the AAR:
For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 554,779 carloads and intermodal units, up 5.9 percent compared with the same week last year.
Total carloads for the week ending December 16 were 265,169 carloads, up 4.1 percent compared with the same week in 2016, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 289,610 containers and trailers, up 7.6 percent compared to 2016.
Seven of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2016. They included nonmetallic minerals, up 6,158 carloads, to 34,003; chemicals, up 2,436 carloads, to 32,224; and metallic ores and metals, up 2,178 carloads, to 23,137. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2016 were grain, down 795 carloads, to 23,571; farm products excl. grain, and food, down 641 carloads, to 15,651; and petroleum and petroleum products, down 453 carloads, to 10,639.
For the first 50 weeks of 2017, U.S. railroads reported a cumulative volume of 13,013,090 carloads, up 3.0 percent from the same point last year; and 13,528,272 intermodal units, up 3.8 percent from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 50 weeks of 2017 was 26,541,362 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 3.4 percent compared to last year.
Coal is over 1/3 of the total railcar count, and this week the EIA says coal production is 0.2 % higher than the production estimate in the comparable week in 2016.
The middle row in 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 | +4.1 % | +7.6 % | +5.9 % |
| Ignoring coal and grain | +7.6 % | ||
| Year Cumulative to Date | +3.0 % | +3.8 % | +3.4 % |
[click on graph below to enlarge]
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For the week ended December 16, 2017
- Estimated U.S. coal production totaled approximately 15.2 million short tons (mmst)
- This production estimate is 2.2% lower than last week’s estimate and 0.2% higher than the production estimate in the comparable week in 2016
- East of the Mississippi River coal production totaled 5.8 mmst
- West of the Mississippi River coal production totaled 9.4 mmst
- U.S. year-to-date coal production totaled 755.2 mmst, 7.9% higher than the comparable year-to-date coal production in 2016
Coal production from EIA.gov
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![[click on graph below to enlarge]](/images/z%20rail1.png?v=36){kind=link}