Rail Traffic Keeps Chugging Along In October-AAR

The American Assocation of Railroads released its monthly report on rail traffic within the US. The good new was that rail traffic, Warren Buffett's favorite indicator increased 8.7% year over year in October. However, volume declined slightly from September. Also, rail traffic is still down as compared to the highs reached back in 2006 and 2007.  From the AAR:

U.S. freight railroads originated 1,196,432 carloads in October 2010, an average of 299,108 carloads per week. That’s up 8.7% from October 2009 and down 7.9% from October 2008 on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. The two highest carload weeks in October were the third- and fourth-highest weeks for carloads so far in 2010.

October 2010’s average weekly carloads were slightly higher than September 2010’s, making October 2010 the new highest-volume month since October 2008. However, if Labor Day week were excluded, September 2010 would have been slightly higher than October 2010.

That helps explain why, on a seasonally adjusted basis, U.S. rail carloads were down 0.5% in October 2010 from September 2010.

The real souce of strength has been intermodal traffic which increaed 14% year over year in October.



Rail Traffic Keeps Chugging Along In October-AAR