Rail volume chugs along

Rail volume chugs along    U.S. railroads posted moderate gains in weekly rail intermodal traffic for the week ending Dec. 18, originating 220,187 trailers and containers, up 5 percent compared with the same week in 2009, according to the Association of American Railroads.
   Container volume increased 4.9 percent and trailer volume was up 5.2 percent. Rail carload traffic for the week totaled 271,709 carloads, flat when compared with the same week last year. The effects of Midwest blizzards were felt in U.S. railroads' weekly traffic numbers.
   Twelve of the 19 carload commodity groups increased from the comparable week in 2009. Commodities posting double-digit gains in loadings were:
   ' Farm products excluding grain, up 46.5 percent.
   ' Metals and products, 16.9 percent.
   ' Lumber and wood products, 15.6 percent.
   ' Stone, clay and glass products, 14.5 percent.
   ' Coke, 12 percent.
   Commodities reporting double digit declines were:
   ' Non-metallic minerals, down 24.6 percent.
   ' Motor vehicles and equipment, 17 percent.
   ' Primary forest products, 10.3 percent.
   Carload volume on Eastern railroads was down 11.8 percent compared with last year. In the West, carload volume was up 7.9 percent compared with the same week in 2009.
   Through 50 weeks of 2010, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 14.3 million carloads, up 7 percent from last year, and 10.9 million trailers or containers, up 14.1 percent from the comparison week in 2009.
   Combined North American rail volume through 50 weeks of 2010 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 18.7 million, up 9.2 percent from last year, and 13.7 million trailers and containers, up 14.6 percent from last year.