AAR: Rail carloads fall 5.1% in October

The Association of American Railroads said 1.07 million carloads were handled in October, down 5.1 percent year-over-year.    The Association of American Railroads (AAR) said 1.07 million carloads were handled in October, down 5.1 percent or 57,800 carloads for the same monthly period last year. 
   U.S. railroads also handled 1.08 million containers and trailers for the month, down 1.2 percent or 13,096 units from October 2015. For October, combined U.S. carload and intermodal “originations” totaled 2.1 million, dropping 3.2 percent or 70,896 carloads and intermodal units from October 2015, AAR said.
   Carload gains were seen among grain, waste and nonferrous scrap. However, declines continued to be experienced by the railroads for carloads of coal, petroleum and chemicals, noted volume staples of the industry.
   “Railroads continue to face a difficult macroeconomic environment that’s negatively impacting their traffic volume,” said AAR Senior Vice President of Policy and Economics John T. Gray in a statement. “Grain is doing well and autos are hanging on, but many other commodity categories that depend on a vibrant industrial sector – things like steel, petroleum products and crushed stone – are not doing as well as railroads would like. Hopefully that changes in the months ahead.”