Weekly US rail shipments fall 2.1 percent

The Association of American Railroads said freight carried on the tracks for the week ending June 7 totaled 323,985 carloads.

Volume was up 0.2 percent in the West, where cargo is primarily carried by Union Pacific Corp. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. Volumes fell 5.2 percent in the East, where freight is mostly hauled by CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp.

Intermodal volume fell 1.1 percent from a year ago. Intermodal involves moving freight from one method of transportation to another, such as truck to rail.

By commodity, carloads of metallic ores led declines for the week, sinking 19.4 percent. Vehicle and equipment shipments fell 18.6 percent, and lumber and wood products carloads declined 16.5 percent. Thirteen out of 19 commodity segments posted losses for the week, the AAR said.

Among the week's gainers were shipments of nonmetallic minerals, which rose 8.1 percent. Food and food product carloads rose 6.3 percent, and coal shipments increased 2.5 percent.

So far this year, shipments on U.S. rails are up 0.8 percent compared with the same period in 2007.