US Rail Traffic Hits 508,303 Units Driven by Strong Intermodal Gains

U.S. freight rail traffic rose modestly year over year in the week ending April 18. Total volume reached 508,303 carloads and intermodal units. That was 2.5% above the same week in 2025. This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

Also, the weekly gain covered both main traffic categories. Carloads totaled 230,749, up 3%. Intermodal volume rose 2.2% to 277,554 containers and trailers. The figures were reported by the Association of American Railroads.

Carloads and intermodal units move higher

Most carload categories tracked by the AAR moved higher. Eight of the 10 commodity groups posted gains. For example, grain climbed 22.9% to 25,079 carloads. Petroleum and petroleum products rose 15.5% to 11,158 carloads. Nonmetallic minerals increased 4.4% to 32,168 carloads.

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Still, two categories declined: coal and miscellaneous carloads. Coal traffic fell 4.7% to 54,601 carloads. Miscellaneous carloads were down 10.1% to 9,035.

Canadian and Mexican railroads report Week 15 results

For Week 15, Canadian railroads reported 95,736 carloads, a 4.7% increase. Meanwhile, intermodal units decreased 2.1% to 72,297. Mexican railroads posted increases in both categories. Carloads rose 47.3% to 13,310. At the same time, intermodal units were up 68.9% to 14,644.

Across the first 15 weeks of 2026, U.S. railroads handled 7,505,182 combined carloads and intermodal units. That was up 1.6% from the same period in 2025. In addition, Canadian railroads reported 2,432,335 units, an increase of 0.8%. Separately, Mexican railroads logged 398,630 units, up 16.4%.

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