{
  "id": 12675920,
  "title": "Climbing intermodal rail volumes more than treble commodities traffic gains",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/07/climbing-intermodal-rail-volumes-more-than-treble-commodities-traffic",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-07T15:01:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "FreightWaves",
    "slug": "freightwaves",
    "url": "https://www.freightwaves.com/news/climbing-intermodal-rail-volumes-more-than-treble-commodities-traffic-gains"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "According to the Association of American Railroads, freight across all sectors experienced a 5% weekly increase year-over-year, as of the week ending October 3. Total U.S. rail traffic reached 529,712 carloads and intermodal units, marking a 5.1% rise compared to the same period in 2025. Carload volume grew by 2.4%, while intermodal volume surged by 7.4%. Among the seven carload commodity groups monitored by AAR, metallic ores and metals saw the most significant growth at 12.8%, closely followed by petroleum and related products at 12.2%. Forest products, which have generally lagged due to a stagnant housing market, increased by 7.5%. Conversely, granular materials declined by 5.2%, farm products (excluding grain and food) grew by 4.1%, and coal was relatively stable with a 0.1% increase.\n\nFor the first 39 weeks of 2026, U.S. railroads reported a cumulative volume of 8,910,593 carloads, reflecting a 2.7% increase, and 11,077,697 intermodal units, a 4.2% gain year-over-year. The total combined U.S. traffic for this period totaled 19,988,290 carloads and intermodal units, a 3.5% rise compared to the same period in 2025. North American rail volume for the week soared to 335,068 carloads and 386,372 intermodal units, up 1.6% and 6.9% respectively, compared to the same week in 2025. The cumulative North American rail traffic for the first 39 weeks of 2026 stood at 27,399,651 carloads and intermodal units, a 3.1% increase from the previous year.",
  "summary": "Metals, petroleum, and forest products helped U.S. railroads to more weekly freight gains, alongside notable intermodal improvement. The post Climbing intermodal rail volumes more than treble commodities traffic gains appeared first on FreightWaves .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}