Weekly US Rail Shipments Sink 24.3 Percent

WASHINGTON (AP) — Shipments carried by U.S. railroads sank 24.3 percent last week compared with a year earlier, a major industry trade group reported Thursday.

The Association of American Railroads said freight carried on the tracks for the week ended April 18 totaled 255,269 carloads. Shipments rose 2.8 percent from the previous week.

Volume was down 20.6 percent in the West, where cargo is primarily carried by Union Pacific Corp. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. Volume fell 28.6 percent in the East, where freight is mostly hauled by CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp.

Intermodal volume fell 18.3 percent from a year ago. Intermodal involves moving freight from one method of transportation to another, such as truck to rail.

All 19 carload commodity groups were down from last year, with declines ranging from as little as 9.3 percent for grain mill products to 63.6 percent for metallic ores.

So far this year, shipments on U.S. rails are down 17.7 percent compared with the same period in 2007.