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    U.S. rail freight narrowly up despite flat intermodal

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    U.S. rail freight narrowly up despite flat intermodal

    Chemicals and grain helped offset weaker industrial and intermodal traffic as freight on U.S. railroads stayed narrowly ahead of year-ago levels.

    U.S. weekly rail traffic totaled 502,252 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.2% for the week ending March 21 from the same period a year ago, according to data from the Association of American Railroads.

    Commodity freight totaled 227,583 carloads, an increase  of 1.2%, as intermodal volume of 274,669 containers and trailers also rose by 1.2%.

    (Chart: AAR)

    Five of the 10 carload commodity groups were better, led by chemicals, up 6.3%; farm products excluding grain, 4.3%; and grain, 3.4%.

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    Weaker categories included metallic ores and metals by 5.6%; forest products, 4.4%; and nonmetallic minerals, 1.1%.

    For the first 11 weeks of 2026, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 2,450,275 carloads, up by 4.7%, and 3,029,315 intermodal units, a decrease of 0.4% y/y. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 11 weeks of 2026 was 5,479,590 carloads and intermodal units, ahead 1.8% from a year ago.

    North American volume for the week on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 331,402 carloads, down 0.2% compared with the same week in 2025, and 361,692 intermodal units, unchanged. Total combined weekly traffic was 693,094 carloads and intermodal units, off 0.1%. Volume for the first 11 weeks of 2026 was 7,531,662 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 2.1% from 2025.

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    Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

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