{
  "id": 17091608,
  "title": "U.S. rail traffic up 7.8% as intermodal leads gainers",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/u-s-rail-traffic-up-7-8-as-intermodal-leads-gainers",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-29T16:31:48.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "FreightWaves",
    "slug": "freightwaves",
    "url": "https://www.freightwaves.com/news/u-s-rail-traffic-up-7-8-as-intermodal-leads-gainers"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "U.S. rail traffic surged 7.8% week-over-week to Oct. 24, driven by a 11.3% rise in intermodal shipments, according to the Association of American Railroads. Carload traffic expanded 3.6% during the same period. Intermodal volume and carload traffic both outpaced their respective year-to-date growth rates. Eight of the top ten carload commodity groups experienced year-over-year increases, with petroleum and petroleum products leading at 15.4%, followed by motor vehicles and parts at 15.3%. Forest products climbed 11.7%, and metallic ores and metals rose 11.6%. Grain saw a rare decline of 3.7%, while food dropped 1.4%. Year-to-date, combined U.S. rail traffic rose 3.8%, with carloads up 2.7% and intermodal traffic leading at 4.7%. Despite a weekly dip, grain remained the top-performing carload commodity, up 10.6%, followed by metallic ores and metals at 8.6%, and petroleum products at 8%. Canadian and Mexican railroads also reported positive trends, with weekly carload growth of 7.6% and 12.7%, respectively, and intermodal increases of 5.5% and 33.4%. Cumulative traffic for the first 42 weeks of 2026 saw a 3.8% rise in the U.S., while Canada saw a 1.5% increase and Mexico a 5.2% rise.",
  "summary": "U.S. rail traffic rose in the latest week as gains across eight of 10 carload commodity groups showed broad — but uneven — growth. The post U.S. rail traffic up 7.8% as intermodal leads gainers 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."
}