Weekly Railfax Report 

Summary of Rail Traffic from Atlantic Systems Inc.
2001 Annual Summary

Available Reports
NEW! Total North American Rail Traffic (US and Canada)
Industry Charts Industry Data
Individual Carrier Data Individual Carrier Charts
North American Industrial Production
Eastern Rail Traffic Charts
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Total Industry
Major Commodity Groups Total Grain Chemicals Food Forest Metals Coal Autos Intermodal
Current Week                  
Vs. 2000 (6.7%) (9.8%) (8.0%) 4.2% (10.0%) (18.5%) 10.4% (11.6%) (15.9%)
Vs. 1999 (16.7%) (21.6%) (19.7%) 3.0% (30.3%) (26.7%) (2.9%) (35.2%) (19.9%)
4 Week Rolling Avg.                  
Vs. 2000 1.4% 4.4% (3.2%) 8.0% (3.6%) (14.7%) 8.2% 15.0% (1.5%)
Vs. 1999 (0.0%) 0.9% (6.5%) 11.8% (13.1%) (24.8%) 7.7% 4.5% 1.8%
Quarter to Date                  
Vs. 2000 0.3% 6.1% (2.3%) 3.1% (6.5%) (6.2%) 5.6% 1.0% (2.3%)
Vs. 1999 (0.8%) (1.9%) (6.6%) 5.5% (11.6%) (16.4%) 5.5% (0.1%) (0.0%)
Year to Date                  
Vs. 2000 (1.4%) (0.8%) (4.2%) 3.9% (7.7%) (9.9%) 5.2% (6.4%) (2.6%)
Vs. 1999 (0.7%) (5.7%) (4.8%) 5.7% (9.0%) (9.0%) 4.5% (5.0%) 0.3%

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Individual Carriers

Carriers   CSX NSC BNSF KSU UNP WCLX CNI CP
Current Week                  
Vs. 2000   (9.2%) (7.4%) (8.3%) 5.0% (1.5%) (20.6%) (4.1%) (4.1%)
Vs. 1999   (26.4%) (16.2%) (12.6%) (14.9%) (8.3%) (36.8%) (8.7%) 3.6%
4 Week Rolling Avg.                  
Vs. 2000   (1.2%) 3.2% 0.5% 8.1% 5.3% (8.4%) 0.6% 0.5%
Vs. 1999   (5.2%) 3.3% (0.4%) (3.4%) 5.7% (21.8%) (1.1%) 1.6%
Quarter to Date                  
Vs. 2000   (1.5%) (1.3%) 0.1% 6.5% 1.4% (0.8%) (3.3%) 1.4%
Vs. 1999   (4.2%) (1.4%) (1.5%) (2.5%) 4.1% (8.9%) (2.2%) 0.8%
Year to Date                  
Vs. 2000   (2.9%) (3.3%) (0.4%) (0.3%) 0.2% (1.9%) (0.8%) 1.1%
Vs. 1999   6.8% 11.3% 0.7% (7.3%) 4.2% (6.7%) 3.5% 3.7%
Market Share                  
2001   27.0% 25.3% 31.1% 2.8% 34.0% 2.0%    
2000   27.4% 25.8% 30.8% 2.8% 33.5% 2.0%    

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Total North American Rail Traffic

Combined US and Canadian Traffic

North American Major Commodity Groups Total Grain Chemicals Food Forest Metals Coal Autos Intermodal
Current Week                  
Vs. 2000 (6.7%) (8.5%) (4.1%) 2.3% (9.1%) (17.3%) 9.6% (17.6%) (15.2%)
Vs. 1999 (15.2%) (10.1%) (14.1%) 1.5% (26.5%) (25.8%) (2.5%) (39.2%) (18.0%)
4 Week Rolling Avg.                  
Vs. 2000 1.3% 2.7% (2.6%) 6.9% (1.3%) (13.1%) 7.1% 13.0% (0.9%)
Vs. 1999 0.2% 3.1% (4.7%) 11.3% (9.2%) (23.2%) 6.4% 3.3% 2.5%
Quarter to Date                  
Vs. 2000 0.1% 3.8% (3.3%) 2.1% (4.7%) (5.7%) 5.2% 0.5% (1.8%)
Vs. 1999 (0.6%) (0.5%) (5.7%) 4.4% (8.8%) (15.5%) 4.6% (0.6%) 1.1%
Year to Date                  
Vs. 2000 (1.2%) 0.3% (4.4%) 3.2% (6.2%) (9.0%) 5.1% (6.7%) (1.9%)
Vs. 1999 (0.1%) 0.8% (4.0%) 4.7% (6.8%) (8.1%) 3.5% (4.5%) 1.9%

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Total North American Rail Traffic (US and Canada)

4 Week Rolling Averages
Total Rail Traffic Intermodal Traffic

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Total Industry Charts

Year over Year Percent Change
13 Week Rolling Averages
Total Traffic Intermodal Traffic
Baseline Traffic Cyclical Traffic

Weekly Loaded Units
4 Week Rolling Averages
Total Rail Traffic Intermodal Traffic
Baseline Traffic Cyclical Traffic

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Individual Carrier Charts

Total Carrier Traffic Trends
4 Week Rolling Averages
 CSX  Norfolk Southern
BNSF Union Pacific
Kansas City Southern Wisconsin Central
Canadian National Canadian Pacific


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Industrial Production

Motor Vehicles and Chemicals are the two largest commodities in the cyclical traffic chart presented above. Tracking these two economically sensitive commodities gives an up to the minute view of the nation's economy. Recession or momentary downturn? These commodities could be key leading indicators. As with all Railshare data, these charts track shipments through the week ending on the preceeding Saturday.
 

Total North American Carloads
4 Week Rolling Average
(Includes Canadian traffic)
Motor Vehicle Traffic Chemicals and Allied Products
 
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Eastern US Rail Traffic

The following charts aggregate rail traffic as reported by the eastern carriers. The acquisition of Conrail by Norfolk Southern and CSX Corp. was completed on June 1, 1999. NS and CSX have not restated any prior year traffic so it has been difficult to accurately assess the impact of the transaction. We have combined all the carriers in the east (Norfolk Southern, CSX, and Conrail (thru May 31, 1999) to represent the entire region. At this level we can present more accurate year over year traffic trends.
 
 

4 Week Rolling Averages
Total Eastern US Traffic
Total Eastern US Loaded

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What is Railshare

Railshare is a comprehensive database of North American rail traffic. The data are provided each Thursday by the Association of American Railroads. Atlantic Systems Inc. processes this information and redistributes the data in an easy to use format. Each week's report covers the seven day period ending the preceding Saturday. Rail traffic is disaggregated between carload (traffic moving in traditional freight cars such as box cars, tank cars and hoppers) and intermodal traffic (containers and piggyback service). Railshare provides commodity breakdowns for carload traffic; commodity detail for intermodal traffic is unavailable. Railroads originate and also move traffic jointly with other originating carriers. The carrier totals shown in Railshare aggregate all traffic handled by individual carriers. Market shares are calculated as total handlings by carrier divided by total U.S. originated rail traffic. Railshare graphs show four major breakdowns of rail traffic. Total traffic includes all carload and intermodal traffic; carload traffic is further divided between economically sensitive commodities (cyclical) and those that are less affected by the business cycle (baseline).

For further information please contact

Atlantic Systems Inc.
11 East 44th Street
New York, New York 10017
(212) 981-2529 ext. 13


Last Updated on 01/03/02
By Mark Schulberg



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