As summer wanes, U.S. rail freight shows little evidence of cooling. Railroads had a particularly strong week of Sept. 5 in almost every major freight segment, with a sharp increase in intermodal traffic and solid gains across most commodity groups.
U.S. rail traffic totaled 533,545 carloads and intermodal units for the week, up 13.8% from the same week in 2025, the Association of American Railroads reported.
Carload traffic increased 8.9% to 234,397 carloads, with intermodal volume climbing even more strongly. Railroads moved 299,148 containers and trailers, up 18% from a year ago.
The gains were broad-based across commodity categories. Nine of the 10 carload commodity groups were higher than a year ago.
Metallic ores and metals led the advance, up 26.6 per cent, with grains next, up 24.1 per cent. Farm products excluding grain and food also increased substantially, by 15.3%.
Coal was the only major commodity group to buck the trend, falling 5.8% from a year earlier.
Stronger momentum first 35 weeks
The latest weekly numbers also help support the larger positive trend for U.S. railroads in 2026.
U.S. railroads reported cumulative traffic of 7,986,328 carloads for the first 35 weeks of 2023, up 2.8% compared with the same point in 2025.
The intermodal activity has been even more frenetic. Railroads moved 9,904,325 intermodal units, an increase of 4.2% over last year.
U.S. railroads moved 17,890,653 carloads and intermodal units during the first 35 weeks of the year, up 3.6 percent from 2025.
North American traffic picks up
And it wasn’t only in the United States that the good performance was seen. Rail traffic also posted big year-over-year gains across North America.
For the week, the nine U.S., Canada and Mexico railroads reported 341,432 carloads, up 8.7 percent compared with the same week last year.
Intermodal traffic was even stronger, at 386,079 units, up 15.9% year-over-year.
Total North American rail traffic rose 12.4% for the week to 727,511 carloads and intermodal units.
The year-to-date picture is also positive. North American railroads reported a total volume of 24,540,451 carloads and intermodal units so far this year in 2026, an increase of 3.3% compared to the same period in 2025.
The latest numbers show that North American rail freight remains robust as the industry moves into the last part of the summer season, with intermodal traffic making a particularly strong contribution to overall growth.
