US railroads traffic finishes year up 5.7% as chemical and grain set record
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reports US rail traffic down 6.3% Y/Y to 395,371 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending January 1, 2022.

For the month of December 2021, carloads volume increased to 1,135,835 (+3.1% Y/Y); while intermodal volume dropped to 1,224,780 containers and trailers (-8.2% Y/Y).

7 of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase during the week, including coal, up 4,246 carloads, to 59,264; nonmetallic minerals, up 3,312 carloads, to 23,060; and metallic ores and metals, up 1,374 carloads, to 21,841.
Commodity groups that posted decline during the period included grain, down 5,087 carloads, to 19,698; petroleum and petroleum products, down 1,257 carloads, to 9,006; and miscellaneous carloads, down 627 carloads, to 7,273.

Year-End Data: For the first 52 weeks North American rail volume reached 35,585,222 carloads and intermodal units (+4.5% Y/Y).
Total U.S. carload traffic for 2021 was 12,010,274 carloads (+6.6% Y/Y) and 14,142,442 intermodal units (+4.9% Y/Y); On combined basis, total U.S. traffic for 2021 was 26,152,716 carloads and intermodal units (+5.7% Y/Y).

Source: Association of American Railroads

âFor most categories, rail traffic in 2021 was substantially higher than in 2020,â said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. âOn the carload side, chemicals set a new annual record and grain had its best year since 2008. Coal carloads were up substantially because of sharply higher natural gas prices, while carloads of motor vehicles suffered as microchip shortages forced automakers to cut output. For intermodal, a record-setting first half gave way to a lower second half as supply chain challenges persisted. Still, 2021 was the second-best U.S. intermodal year ever, behind only 2018.â
Canadian railroads reported year-end rail traffic volume of 7,556,277 carloads, containers and trailers (+0.6% Y/Y); Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 52 weeks of 2021 was 1,876,229 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers (+4.7% Y/Y).
CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) is added to the BMO Capital list of top 15 U.S. large cap stock picks to replace Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP). 

Related tickers: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B), Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI), Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC), Union Pacific (UNP), and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP,BIPC).