February 03, 2021
AAR: Carload Gain Lies Mainly in the Grain Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
In January, U.S. intermodal shipments and carloads of chemicals set new records, and grain was up 40%, its “biggest-ever” year-over-year increase, Association of American Railroads (AAR) Senior Vice President John T. Gray reported on Feb. 3. Total carloads (930,303) were the highest they have been in a year, he added an encouraging sign.
Excluding coal, carloads “actually grew year-over-year for the second straight month,” Gray said. They were up by 15,557, or 2.3%, in January 2021 from January 2020.
Carloads excluding coal and grain, however, were down by 15,877, or 2.7%.
This chart from Susquehanna Financial Group shows the trailing four-week average U.S. Class I rail carloadings (year-over-year percent change; weekly totals).
AAR: ‘Railroads Looking to the Future’ Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
U.S. rail traffic by the end of the 2020 reporting year was “close to pre-pandemic levels, sparked by sharply higher grain and intermodal shipments along with the reopening of auto assembly plants,” Association of American Railroads (AAR) Senior Vice President John T. Gray said on Jan. 6.
In December, U.S. rail traffic 2,435,819 carloads and intermodal units rose 4.4% from December 2019, with intermodal growth again offsetting carload declines. U.S. railroads originated 1,101,324 carloads, a falloff of 3.7%, or 42,666 carloads, compared with the same month in 2019; and 1,334,495 containers and trailers, a boost of 12.2%, or 145,126 units, from 2019.