Coal traffic in the United States for the week ended Oct. 8 was down 8.3% from a year ago to 90,195 carloads, according to figures from the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
That’s according to figures released by the railroad association on Oct. 12.
Through the first 40 weeks of 2016, U.S. coal rail traffic is down 25% from the 2015 pace. The cumulative total of carloads amounted to 3,043,735 for an average of 76, 093 per week.
When the picture is expanded to include data from Mexico and Canada, it shows that North American coal traffic for the week ended Oct. 8 equaled 96,930 carloads, which is down 8.8% from the same week in 2015.
There have been 3,328,761 carloads moved on North American rail lines during the first 40 weeks of 2016. That amounts to a weekly average of 83,219 carloads, which is down 24% from the first 40 weeks in 2015.
For the week ended Oct. 8, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 521,789 carloads and intermodal units, down 6.1% compared with the same week last year. Coal continues to be the single largest commodity moved by rail in the United States and North America.
