Weekly US rail shipments fall 4.7 percent

WASHINGTON - Shipments carried by U.S. railroads fell 4.7 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 ending Oct. 25 totaled 325,315 carloads.

Volume slipped 4.8 percent in the West, where cargo is primarily carried by Union Pacific Corp. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. Volume fell 4.5 percent in the East, where freight is mostly hauled by CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp.

Intermodal volume fell 4.1 percent from a year ago. Intermodal involves moving freight from one method of transportation to another, such as truck to rail.

Sixteen out of 19 carload groups carried by the rails trailed year-ago figures. Shipments of automobiles and equipment sank 28.1 percent, while waste and scrap shipments tumbled 22.7 percent.

Coal shipments continued to jump, rising 6.5 percent from a year ago.

So far this year, shipments on U.S. rails are down 0.4 percent compared with the same period in 2007.

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