Railroad traffic highest since October 2008

Railroad traffic highest since October 2008    The Association of American Railroads said rail carloads improved 8.7 percent in October compared with the same period last year, but still down 7.9 percent compared with October 2008.
   According to AAR's November Rail Time Indicators Report, the weekly average of 299,108 carloads last month was the highest since October 2008.
   Intermodal traffic in October was up 14 percent compared with the same month in 2009, and up slightly by 1.2 percent compared with October 2008. The weekly average of 235,444 intermodal units last month was the highest since October 2007, and the 12th-highest weekly monthly average for intermodal on record.
   “Last week the government announced that GDP grew roughly 2 percent in the third quarter of 2010. Rail traffic in October suggests that similarly moderate growth is continuing into the fourth quarter,' said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. 'Just like our nation's economy still has further to go to full recovery, so does rail traffic. Still, traffic is much better than it was a year ago, especially on the intermodal side, and railroads look forward to continuing to move the economy forward.'