Class I Rail Traffic Increases

The lull suggested by recent carload freight loadings at major U.S. railroads was evident again in the latest week, as volume showed only a mild rebound from flood-depressed levels.

The Association of American Railroads said originations of carload shipments for the U.S. operations of Class I carriers and a few regional lines reached 277,734 units in the week ending Oct. 3.

That was up from 271,659 a week earlier when several busy rail corridors in and out of Atlanta had closed for a couple of days after heavy rainstorms, but was down from 282,341 in the week before the Southeast flooding.

It was the latest in a series of signals from the rail and manufacturing sectors that the once-steady freight recovery is in a new choppy pattern. Carloads were down 17.2 percent from the same week last year, and were 18.1 percent behind the first 39 weeks of 2009.

Not all cargoes are stalling after recent highs. Major U.S. carriers last week picked up the most carloads so far in 2009 of metals and metal products, at 7,960. That is one of several categories boosted in the wake of the “cash for clunkers” federal stimulus program that lifted automobile sales and stirred new production to restock dealer lots.

But rail hauls of scrap materials and metallic ores, key inputs for new metal output, and of finished autos and equipment are all off their highs.

Railroads also hauled more intermodal units – containers and trailers – than any other week of this year, in line with the normal autumn peak season for box shipments of consumer goods. Yet, rail executives say intermodal demand is so slack it is adding none of the network tightness that is normal in the peak season.

Last week’s 206,293 box loadings were down 15.7 percent from the 2008 week, while year-to-date intermodal volume was down 16.8 percent.

Other cargoes offer mixed signals. Chemical shipments of 28,008 tank cars were the most railroads reported in four weeks, but that total was down from their late-August peak. Shipments of coal, the largest rail-hauled commodity, rose some from when floods interrupted coal trains heading to a large Atlanta power plant, but were still down nearly 17 percent from a year earlier.

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.