Week 19 of 2018 shows same week total rail traffic (from same week one year ago) improved according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR) traffic data.
Analyst Opinion of the Rail Data
We review this data set to understand the economy. If coal and grain are removed from the analysis for carloads, this week it expanded 3.3 %. We primarily use rolling averages the analyze the data due to weekly volatility – and the 4 week rolling average for the intuitive sectors declined to 3.7 %.
Intermodal transport growth remains strong year-over-year.
The following graph compares the four week moving averages for carload economically intuitive sectors (red line) vs. total movements (blue line):
Although rail’s growth rate is improving (and is better than GDP growth – it has yet to confirm that the economy is getting ready for a growth spurt.
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 | +4.9 % | accelerating | accelerating |
| 13 week rolling average | +3.5 % | accelerating | accelerating |
| 52 week rolling average | +2.7 % | unchanged | accelerating |
A summary of the data from the AAR:
For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 550,029 carloads and intermodal units, up 5.8 percent compared with the same week last year.
Total carloads for the week ending May 12 were 267,196 carloads, up 5.3 percent compared with the same week in 2017, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 282,833 containers and trailers, up 6.3 percent compared to 2017.
Seven of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2017. They included coal, up 7,347 carloads, to 81,523; nonmetallic minerals, up 5,714 carloads, to 42,383; and chemicals, up 1,128 carloads, to 32,431. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2017 were motor vehicles and parts, down 1,440 carloads, to 16,915; miscellaneous carloads, down 657 carloads, to 9,189; and metallic ores and metals, down 326 carloads, to 23,875.
For the first 19 weeks of 2018, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 4,879,984 carloads, up 1.1 percent from the same point last year; and 5,158,588 intermodal units, up 5.9 percent from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 19 weeks of 2018 was 10,038,572 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 3.5 percent compared to last year.
Coal is over 1/3 of the total railcar count, and this week the EIA says coal production is 7.5 % higher than the production estimate in the comparable week in 2017.
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 | +5.3 % | +6.3 % | +5.8 % |
| Ignoring coal and grain | +3.3 % | ||
| Year Cumulative to Date | +1.1 % | +5.9 % | +3.5 % |
[click on graph below to enlarge]
z rail1.png
For the week ended May 12, 2018
- Estimated U.S. coal production totaled approximately 14.3 million short tons (mmst)
- This production estimate is 5.2% higher than last week’s estimate and 7.5% higher than the production estimate in the comparable week in 2017
- East of the Mississippi River coal production totaled 5.8 mmst
- West of the Mississippi River coal production totaled 8.4 mmst
- U.S. year-to-date coal production totaled 274.4 mmst, 1.6% lower than the comparable year-to-date coal production in 2017
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![[click on graph below to enlarge]](/images/z%20rail1.png?v=36){kind=link}