U.S. weekly rail traffic falls 4.4% as metals, grains slide double-digit
U.S. weekly rail traffic declined 4.4% year-over-year to 489,111 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending Sept. 24, 2022.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported total traffic of 231,258 carloads, down 3.2% and 257,853 containers and trailers, down 5.4% Y/Y.
Metallic ores and metals dropped 14.1% to 20,708 carloads; Chemicals -5.5% to 30,261 carloads; Grain -10.4% to 19,540; and Petroleum and Petroleum Products -10% to 9,404 carloads. 

North American rail volume for the week was 675,284 carloads and intermodal units, down 2.8%, which included 3.6% drop in Canadian intermodal units.

Related: BNSF Railway (BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B), Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP), Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI), Canadian Pacific (NYSE:CP), CSX Corporation (CSX), Union Pacific (UNP), Norfolk Southern (NSC) and the iShares Transportation Average ETF (IYT).
Earlier, UBS issued a warning on the rails sector as the macro backdrop continues to deteriorate. The firm said, "we believe it will be difficult for the U.S. rails to achieve the ~2.5% volume growth currently reflected in consensus."