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Weekly Intermodal Traffic Rises 11.2%
time datetime="00Z">May 20, 2011 8:30 AM, EDT
Intermodal traffic increased 6.3% last week from a year ago, the Association of American Railroads reported.
Traffic rose to 231,875 units for the week ended Saturday, AAR said in its weekly report.
Trailers rose 2.5% to 33,228 units, while containers increased 6.9% to 198,647.
Railroad carloads excluding intermodal showed a 1.6% decrease to 294,271 carloads, AAR said.
Railroad volume is considered an important economic indicator. Intermodal traffic, which tends to be higher-valued merchandise than bulk commodities, uses trains for the long haul and trucks for the shorter distance at either end of the trip.
