US railroads' intermodal traffic hits historic mark

The volume of intermodal units traveling on U.S. railroads last week was the highest ever seen, the Association of American Railroads reports.

U.S. carload and intermodal volume both grew for the week ending in June 14. A total of 270,243 intermodal units moved on U.S. railroads, up 0.2 percent from the previous week and 6.3 percent higher than the same week in 2013. Carload volume also grew, totaling 295,132 units, 0.8 percent higher week-to-week and 2.2 percent higher year-over-year.

“Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 24 weeks of 2014 was 12.96 million carloads and intermodal units, up 4.4 percent from last year,” AAR said.

Total intermodal volume in North America was 339,981 units, 0.2 percent down from the previous week but still 6.6 higher year-over-year. Carload volume reached 400,554, 2.3 percent higher week-to-week and 4.4 percent higher than the same week of 2013.

Nine of the 10 commodity groups measured by AAR showed growth on North American railroads this week. Only coal, which dropped 4.9 percent, was in the red.

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