North American Rail Traffic Fell 1.4% in Week Ended April 20

By Colin Kellaher

North American rail volume of carloads and intermodal units fell 1.4% last week amid a second consecutive week of double-digit traffic declines in Mexico, the Association of American Railroads said.

Carload volume for the week ended April 20 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads fell 0.9%, while intermodal traffic fell 1.8%, the trade group said.

North American rail traffic was 0.6% lower in the week ended April 13. For the first 16 weeks of the year, North American volume is down 1.2%.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic fell 2.4% last week. Carloads fell 0.9%, marked by declines in seven of 10 commodity categories, while intermodal traffic fell 3.9%.

U.S. rail traffic is down 1.8% for the year to date, the AAR said.

The group said rail traffic rose 6.5% in Canada last week, paced by a 10.7% rise in intermodal units. Carloads rose 3.2%, with large gains in grain and petroleum shipments.

Rail traffic fell 15.7% in Mexico for the week ended April 20, with steep drops in petroleum and grain shipments leading double-digit declines across most product categories. Traffic in Mexico fell 12.6% a week earlier and is now down 6% on the year.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 25, 2019 12:40 ET (16:40 GMT)

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