AAR week 36 carloads dip, year-to-date volumes higher

The AAR, or Association of American Railroads, has delivered its reports for week 36 of this year, and the results are interesting to say the least. Week 36 saw a slight dip in the cumulative carloads; however, the year-to-date volumes are significantly higher, especially taking into consideration the current state of the United States economy. The railroad network has, for generations, played an integral role in the energy and transportation sectors in America and has brought untold wealth to a select few who pioneered the iconic American railroad network.

Week 36 delivered slightly fewer carloads than the same period last year

The American railroad continues to play a crucial role in the transportation of key energy resources in the United States and North America as a whole. For week 36, the total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 467,880 carloads and intermodal units, which is 2.4 percent lower than the same period last year. So not that much less, but enough to make a difference.

Despite the reduction in carloads this week, three out of the ten carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2024. Those commodity groups were:

• Miscellaneous carloads, up 1,132 carloads to 8,512
• motor vehicles and parts, up 973 carloads, to 14,633
• forest products, up 286 carloads, to 7,801

Despite the low numbers in week 36, the annual carloads are on the rise compared to the same period last year

The week 36 numbers are a concern, but the sector can take solace in the fact that for the first part of this year, the numbers are up compared to the same period last year. U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 7,963,526 carloads, up 2.4 percent from the same point last year, and 9,724,964 intermodal units, up 4.0 percent from last year.

The United States railroad network has played a crucial role in America’s history

We cannot express the integral role the US railroad network has played in developing the United States from a dusty, inhospitable land full of cowboys to a first-world country that leads the globe in several sectors of everyday life. North America as a whole has reaped the benefits of the railroad network that crosses borders and delivers key employment creation to millions in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

Throughout history, the US railroad network has delivered life-saving commodities to parts of the America’s that were previously unreachable. The railroad has become a necessity for any nation aiming to emulate the growth that the United States has experienced in the last century. In the past few months alone, we have seen several key projects get approval from the federal government, and the energy sector is definitely on the up, so to speak.

“The public conviction that a railroad linking the West and the East was an absolute necessity became so pronounced after the gold discoveries of ’49 that Congress passed an act in 1853 providing for a survey of several lines from the Mississippi to the Pacific.” – John Moody, the financial analyst who founded Moody’s Investors Service

The energy sector in the United States has embraced the new stance pioneered by the Trump administration

Despite the uncertain nature of the American economy at the moment, the energy sector has been bolstered by the recent executive orders that Donald Trump signed into law. Those executive orders aim at removing unnecessary barriers the energy sector has to contend with in the United States and replacing them with a more lenient and flexible approach to the regulatory system set in place during the Biden administration. Several key projects have received approval from the federal government, and the railroad network will continue to provide the energy sector with a reliable transportation system to deliver the energy resources that Americans need.