US rail freight traffic remains significantly down from last year, a new trade group report has revealed.
The country's railroads reported a 13.7% dip in rail freight traffic for the week ending 31 October, compared with the same week in 2008, according to the report by the Association of American Railroads.
The fall is even bigger than the total estimated volume for the week, which was 31-billion-ton-miles, a 12.7% fall compared with the same week last year.
Overall, for the first 43 weeks of 2009, the rail freight volume carried by the US railroads was 11,482,619 carloads - a 17.9% drop from 2008.
The total North American rail volume for the same period (first 43 weeks of 2009) on 13 reporting US Canadian and Mexican railroads was 14,633,769 carloads, an 18.3% drop from 2008.
