Total N.American rails traffic rebounded from an Irene induced dip to 694k cars last week. We should not here that 2 out of the last 3 weeks (except for Irene week) have been the highest levels in 3 years. Expect another when this weeks traffic is released next week due to the labor day holiday. The larger point here is that this data in no way backs the “double dip” scenario being floated out there.
As far as what was being carried, coal, chemicals and grains saw the largest percentage gains while auto’s saw a decline (I would say this is an Irene factor and would expect a bump when current data is released).
Of the carriers, $CSX dipped for the 2nd consecutive week (they are the dominant east coast carrier so Irene had the largest effect on them) while both $UNP and $KSU saw gains. When you consider east coast traffic is still down due to weather ($CSX data backs that) the gains we are seeing and the levels we reached last week are all the more encouraging as now we can look at #’s over 700k as realistic in the next few weeks.
Here is the chart:
