{"id":86464,"date":"2026-02-12T16:16:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T19:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/891836737"},"modified":"2026-02-12T16:16:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T19:16:54","slug":"waiting-game-as-u-s-rail-freight-falls-in-weekly-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/12\/waiting-game-as-u-s-rail-freight-falls-in-weekly-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Waiting game as U.S. rail freight falls in weekly data"},"content":{"rendered":"

Total U.S. weekly rail traffic came to 486,854 carloads and intermodal units in the latest week\u2019s data, trailing the year-ago period by 3.2%.<\/p>\n

Total commodities for the week ending Feb. 7 were 208,408 carloads, weaker by 4.8% compared with the same week in 2025, according to Association of American Railroads data. Intermodal volume was 278,446 containers and trailers, off 2% y\/y. Import demand hit an earlier-than-usual lull mirrored by falling container rates on the trans-Pacific.<\/p>\n

Oil led gains by three of the 10 carload commodity groups tracked by AAR. Petroleum and petroleum products finished ahead by 10.2%, followed by grain, 3.2%, and motor vehicles and parts, 2.6%.<\/p>\n

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(Chart: AAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Forest products, off 16%, bottomed out among commodity groups that posted decreases from a year ago. Nonmetallic minerals fell 11.7%, followed by metallic ores and metals, 6.8%, and coal, 6.2%.<\/p>\n

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Coal\u2019s decline coincided with the Washington Coal Club this week presenting President Donald Trump with its inaugural \u201cUndisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal\u201d award.<\/p>\n

Through the first five weeks of 2026, U.S. railroads saw cumulative volume of 1,071,966 carloads, up 2.5% y\/y, and 1,346,799 intermodal units, lower by 3.2%. Total combined U.S. traffic year-to-date was 2,418,765 carloads and intermodal units, down 0.7%.<\/p>\n

North American freight turned in narrow, and identical, positive indicators for the week on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads as total 309,723 carloads were up 0.1% y\/y, and 361,789 intermodal units were also ahead 0.1%. Total combined traffic in North America was 671,512 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 0.1%. Volume for the first five weeks of this year was 3,338,702 carloads and intermodal units, up 0.1% from 2025.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to FreightWaves\u2019 Rail e-newsletter<\/strong><\/a> and get the latest insights on rail freight right in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here<\/strong>.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Related coverage:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Union Pacific claims rival railroad delaying trains<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

New power: CSX signs $670M locomotive deal<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

GOP members to STB: Find \u2018real\u2019 benefits or reject rail merger<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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U.S. rail freight loses ground in latest data<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… , down 0.7%. North American freight<\/span> turned in narrow, and identical … the latest insights on rail freight<\/span> right in your inbox. Read … rail merger U.S. rail freight<\/span> loses ground in latest data<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}