WINTER STORM HURTS RAIL FREIGHT TRAFFIC

WINTER STORM HURTS RAIL FREIGHT TRAFFIC    The railroad industry blamed the recent winter storm in the U.S. mid-Atlantic and Northeast for reducing freight volume 5.2 percent to 306,836 carloads during the week ended Feb. 22.
   The Association of American Railroads said loadings were down 11.5 percent in the East, where more than two feet of snow fell in some parts.
   Intermodal volume was below that of other recent weeks, but still above the year-earlier period. Intermodal volume, which is not included in the carload data, totaled 175,392 trailers and containers, up 2.6 percent from last year. Container volume rose 7.2 percent while trailer traffic was off 9.5 percent.
   Coal volume was especially hard hit by the storm, with loadings dropping 13.4 percent from last year. Also off sharply were loadings of lumber and wood products, down 9.8 percent; and primary forest products, down 7.4 percent. Sharp increases were reported in loadings of metallic ores, up 53.7 percent; coke, up 17.5 percent; and pulp, paper and allied products, up 11.4 percent.
   For the first eight weeks of the year carload volume is flat while intermodal volume is up 9.5 percent to 1.4 million trailers and containers.