U.S. railroads’ intermodal volumes up 6.7% in July

U.S. railroads’ intermodal volumes up 6.7% in July    The Association of American Railroads Thursday reported that intermodal traffic on U.S. railroads rose 6.7 percent in July to 938,160 trailers and containers.
   Carload volume increased 2 percent to 1.29 million cars, the AAR said. Eight of the 19 major commodity categories tracked by the AAR saw U.S. carload increases in July including: coal (up 4.5 percent to 542,129 carloads), metals and products (up 16.9 percent to 55,833 carloads), and grain (up 7.6 percent 87,788 carloads).
   “Railroads are delivering unprecedented volumes of coal, helping to ensure continued availability of cost-effective coal-fired electricity. Given the weather that most of the country is currently suffering through, we are looking for coal movements to continue their torrid pace,” said AAR Vice President Craig F. Rockey.
   For the year to date, U.S. intermodal traffic increased 6.5 percent to 6.96 million units while carloads were up 1.5 percent to 10.08 million.
   Canadian intermodal traffic was up 7.1 percent in July to 181,641 units, and up 6.1 percent for the first seven months of 2006 to 1.34 million units.