Week 16 of 2018 shows same week total rail traffic (from same week one year ago) improved according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR) traffic data.

Analyst Opinion of the Rail Data

We review this data set to understand the economy. If coal and grain are removed from the analysis for carloads, this week it expanded 1.6 %. We primarily use rolling averages the analyze the data due to weekly volatility - and the 4 week rolling average for the intuitive sectors improved to 2.8 %.

Intermodal transport growth remains strong year-over-year.

The following graph compares the four week moving averages for carload economically intuitive sectors (red line) vs. total movements (blue line):

(Click on image to enlarge)

Although rail's growth rate is improving - it has yet to show that the economy is getting ready for a growth spurt. 

This analysis is looking for clues in the rail data to show the direction of economic activity - and is not necessarily looking for clues of profitability of the railroads. The weekly data is fairly noisy, and the best way to view it is to look at the rolling averages (carloads [including coal and grain] and intermodal combined).

A summary of the data from the AAR:

For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 539,425 carloads and intermodal units, up 6.2 percent compared with the same week last year.

Total carloads for the week ending April 21 were 264,552 carloads, up 3.5 percent compared with the same week in 2017, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 274,873 containers and trailers, up 8.9 percent compared to 2017.

Seven of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2017. They included coal, up 3,922 carloads, to 80,608; nonmetallic minerals, up 3,328 carloads, to 39,387; and grain, up 2,424 carloads, to 25,938. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2017 were metallic ores and metals, down 1,207 carloads, to 23,972; petroleum and petroleum products, down 995 carloads, to 9,356; and farm products excl. grain, and food, down 511 carloads, to 15,542.

For the first 16 weeks of 2018, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 4,080,772 carloads, up 0.4 percent from the same point last year; and 4,310,336 intermodal units, up 5.6 percent from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 16 weeks of 2018 was 8,391,108 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 3 percent compared to last year.

Coal is over 1/3 of the total railcar count, and this week the EIA says coal production is 2.7 % higher than the production estimate in the comparable week in 2017.

The middle row in the table below removes coal and grain from the changes in the railcar counts as neither of these commodities is economically intuitive.

(Click on image to enlarge)

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For the week ended April 21, 2018

• Estimated U.S. coal production totaled approximately 14.1 million short tons (mmst)
• This production estimate is 6.4% higher than last week's estimate and 2.7% higher than the production estimate in the comparable week in 2017
• East of the Mississippi River coal production totaled 5.8 mmst
• West of the Mississippi River coal production totaled 8.3 mmst
• U.S. year-to-date coal production totaled 232.8 mmst, 2.6% lower than the comparable year-to-date coal production in 2017