Each week, the major North American railroads report their traffic for the previous week to AAR. This data is published in AAR’s Weekly Railroad Traffic report each Wednesday. Carload traffic is classified into 20 major commodity categories such as coal, chemicals, grain, and primary metal products. Rail intermodal traffic (shipping containers and truck trailers moved on rail cars) is reported separately.
Below are the major rail traffic groups and the associated weekly railroad traffic commodity categories.
- Chemicals
- Coal
Farm Products excl. Grain & Food
- Farm products excl. grain
- Grain mill products
- Food products
- Primary forest products
- Lumber and wood products
- Pulp a paper products
- Grain
- Metallic ores
- Coke
- Primary metal products
- Iron and steel scrap
- Motor vehicles and parts
- Crushed stone, sand and gravel
- Nonmetallic minerals
- Stone, clay and glass products
Petroleum & Petroleum Products
- Petroleum and petroleum products
Other
- Waste and nonferrous scrap
- All other carloads
- Containers
- Trailers