North America Rail Traffic Down 3.4% in Week Ended March 23

   By Colin Kellaher

North American rail volume of carloads and intermodal units fell another 3.4% last week as damage from flooding in the Midwest continued to weigh on U.S. traffic, the Association of American Railroads said Wednesday.

Carload volume for the week ended March 23 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads fell 7.9%, while intermodal traffic rose 1.3%, the trade group said.

North American rail traffic was 5% lower in the week ended March 16. For the first 12 weeks of the year, North American volume is down 1.3%.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic fell 4.5% last week as carloads slid 10.9%, marked by sharp declines in agriculture and coal. U.S. intermodal volume rose 2.1% last week.

Catastrophic flooding in the Midwest has caused major rail damage in Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa.

Union Pacific Corp. (UNP) and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s (BRKA) BNSF Railway, which have significant routes in those states, both saw double-digit declines in carloads last week, the AAR said. The railroads are making progress on repairs, according to freight-markets data provider FreightWaves.

U.S. rail traffic is down 1.5% for the year to date, the AAR said.

The group said rail traffic edged up 0.2% in Canada for the week ended March 23 but fell 4% in Mexico.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 27, 2019 11:46 ET (15:46 GMT)

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