The Association of American Railroads (AAR) on Jan. 8 reported that total originated U.S. rail traffic was 404,293 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending Jan. 3, 2026, down 4.0%, from the comparable year-earlier week, which in this case is Week 1 of 2025.
Total U.S. carloads for the week ending January 3, 2026, were 192,665 carloads, down 2.8% from the comparison week, while U.S. intermodal volume for the week was 211,628 containers and trailers, down 5.1% from the comparison week.
For U.S. railroads for the week ending Jan. 3, 2026, two of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the comparison week. These two were chemicals, up 734 carloads to 32,493; and grain, up 195 carloads to 21,022. Commodity groups that posted decreases from the comparison week included nonmetallic minerals, down 1,393 carloads to 21,565; miscellaneous carloads, down 1,238 carloads to 5,734; and farm products excluding grain, and food, down 769 carloads to 15,694.
For all of 2025 (defined as weeks 1-52), U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 11,508,797 carloads, up 1.5% over 2024; and 14,055,633 intermodal units, also up 1.5% over 2024. Total combined U.S. traffic for 2025 was 25,564,430 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.5% over 2024.
North American rail volume for the week ending January 3, 2026, on nine reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 279,924 carloads, down 2.9% from the comparison week, and 277,628 intermodal units, down 4.9%. Total combined rail traffic in North America for the week ending Jan. 3, 2026, was 557,552 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.9%. North American rail volume for weeks 1-52 of 2025 was 35,187,052 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.4% over 2024.
Canadian railroads for the week ending Jan. 3, 2026, reported 78,588 carloads, down 2.3% from the comparison week, and 55,805 intermodal units, down 9.7%. For all of 2025, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 8,387,041 carloads, containers and trailers, up 2.0% over 2024.
For the week ending Jan. 3, 2026, Mexican railroads reported 8,671 carloads, down 10.7% from the comparison week, and 10,195 intermodal units, up 43.1%. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for 2025 was 1,235,581 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, down 5.5% from 2024.
Editor’s Note: For rail traffic purposes, a week that bridges two different years is assigned to the year in which most of the days of that week fall. The week ending Jan. 3, 2026, had most of its days in 2025, so it is assigned to 2025. Because of the way the calendar fell in 2025, the week ending Jan. 3, 2026, was week 53 of 2025. A year having 53 weeks happens every few years. Rail traffic comparisons are always made to the corresponding period 52 weeks earlier. This means the comparison week for a week 53 is Week 1 of the same year. To ensure comparability across years, Week 53 is ignored when computing annual totals. Instead, annual totals are always weeks 1-52.
