What does the US Rail Freight Traffic by Commodity Group table measure?

It measures weekly railcar originations and intermodal units transported by Class I railroads in the United States, categorized by specific commodity groups and individual carriers.

How often is this data published and how far back does it go?

The data is published weekly by the Surface Transportation Board and historical series begin from 2017.

What breakdowns are available in this dataset?

The dataset includes breakdowns by various commodity groups such as coal, chemicals, grain, and motor vehicles, alongside separate counts for intermodal containers and trailers by Class I railroads.

How should intermodal traffic be compared with traditional carloads?

Intermodal traffic consisting of containers and trailers is counted in units rather than railcars, so analysts should evaluate carload traffic and intermodal volume separately rather than relying solely on the aggregate total.

US Rail Freight Traffic by Commodity Group

Name: US Rail Freight Traffic by Commodity Group
Creator: Surface Transportation Board (STB) — Rail Service Data, EP 724
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

US weekly rail freight traffic and carloads by commodity group from the STB.

Source: Surface Transportation Board (STB) — Rail Service Data, EP 724Last updated: Sep 21, 2026, 15:47Curated by Bui Thanh PhucAbout this data ↓

Indicator	16-09-2026	09-09-2026	02-09-2026	26-08-2026	19-08-2026	12-08-2026	05-08-2026	29-07-2026	22-07-2026	15-07-2026	08-07-2026	01-07-2026	24-06-2026	17-06-2026	10-06-2026	03-06-2026	27-05-2026	20-05-2026	13-05-2026	06-05-2026	29-04-2026	22-04-2026	15-04-2026	08-04-2026	01-04-2026	25-03-2026	18-03-2026	11-03-2026	04-03-2026	25-02-2026	18-02-2026
Total cars and originations2	532,905	573,736	583,606	571,258	560,168	567,794	566,598	567,890	561,144	543,341	520,201	565,943	560,383	560,116	565,123	531,709	566,009	553,037	552,024	560,237	551,306	548,612	544,448	542,474	560,622	544,291	551,141	558,069	562,443	549,907	555,926
Intermodal (containers + trailers)2	278,283	307,189	311,305	304,443	300,016	303,408	301,012	302,077	305,027	288,694	277,346	302,103	297,203	298,354	302,505	273,135	302,128	289,463	291,919	291,978	289,982	286,050	280,816	280,701	291,210	282,682	289,136	292,668	287,775	289,258	293,905
Containers	270,919	298,263	302,941	296,251	291,700	295,113	292,682	293,751	296,863	280,980	269,718	293,519	288,782	289,896	293,759	265,927	293,813	281,414	283,872	284,111	282,340	278,384	273,306	272,853	283,283	274,956	281,139	284,871	279,832	281,289	286,052
Trailers	7,364	8,926	8,364	8,192	8,316	8,295	8,330	8,326	8,164	7,714	7,628	8,584	8,421	8,458	8,746	7,208	8,315	8,049	8,047	7,867	7,642	7,666	7,510	7,848	7,927	7,726	7,997	7,797	7,943	7,969	7,853
Carload traffic (excluding intermodal)20	254,622	266,547	272,301	266,815	260,152	264,386	265,586	265,813	256,117	254,647	242,855	263,840	263,180	261,762	262,618	258,574	263,881	263,574	260,105	268,259	261,324	262,562	263,632	261,773	269,412	261,609	262,005	265,401	274,668	260,649	262,021
Coal	58,234	57,724	63,726	61,687	60,550	58,055	57,796	61,404	56,492	54,095	49,400	56,766	55,803	54,345	55,821	54,741	56,151	56,012	55,787	55,482	55,870	54,942	58,940	56,638	57,849	58,704	58,097	62,892	64,504	59,101	59,050
Chemicals	36,161	38,300	38,176	38,833	38,241	37,920	38,446	38,113	38,345	37,255	35,614	38,581	37,752	37,018	37,046	37,409	38,085	38,573	39,249	40,612	38,507	39,179	39,795	39,736	41,594	41,394	39,242	39,187	40,936	39,174	38,647
Grain	28,001	27,445	26,268	27,829	26,543	26,705	27,840	27,626	26,988	26,952	26,414	28,361	28,074	28,942	26,826	31,705	28,556	29,073	29,347	30,610	29,743	30,681	28,523	30,716	28,915	27,818	30,403	30,377	32,041	28,838	33,838
Crushed stone, sand and gravel	23,960	24,495	26,597	25,404	25,380	26,347	25,517	24,022	24,543	24,279	22,181	23,695	24,551	24,807	25,736	22,416	24,689	24,425	25,926	25,234	25,578	24,965	25,422	24,449	24,240	23,190	22,692	21,416	21,691	21,685	20,602
Motor vehicles and parts	15,868	18,685	18,186	17,461	16,035	16,438	16,390	17,505	13,842	14,536	13,868	18,251	17,571	19,162	18,584	16,944	18,706	18,706	18,876	19,043	18,575	18,677	17,034	17,966	20,098	18,823	18,800	18,793	18,385	17,884	16,072
Metallic ores	12,739	14,068	12,446	12,058	9,007	13,962	12,243	12,300	10,482	11,467	12,184	11,363	12,272	11,964	13,459	12,035	12,152	12,065	8,806	11,594	9,622	10,227	11,871	9,792	12,130	11,550	11,442	11,578	12,010	11,258	13,035
Grain mill products	11,529	12,657	11,431	11,394	11,978	12,320	12,148	11,830	12,460	12,928	12,386	12,868	12,497	12,450	12,620	11,842	12,158	11,160	12,692	11,333	12,366	12,119	12,258	12,539	12,090	12,641	12,628	12,392	13,229	12,459	11,618
Petroleum products	12,528	12,838	13,400	13,297	12,775	13,129	13,309	13,198	12,726	13,574	12,740	12,604	13,485	13,002	12,885	11,963	12,645	13,118	13,253	12,379	12,199	13,175	12,754	12,521	12,866	11,829	12,287	12,588	13,737	12,762	12,931
Metals	8,230	9,435	10,098	9,495	9,042	9,278	10,170	9,437	9,131	8,920	9,081	9,470	9,437	9,373	9,204	9,571	9,281	9,140	7,737	9,428	8,824	8,440	8,185	8,508	9,257	8,385	8,195	8,368	9,234	8,052	8,264
Stone, clay and glass	8,622	9,559	9,494	9,652	9,506	9,215	9,733	8,984	9,203	9,352	8,803	9,151	9,261	9,069	9,336	8,703	9,090	9,132	9,030	9,195	8,895	8,626	8,545	8,387	8,158	8,098	8,063	7,953	8,308	7,993	8,064
Food and kindred products	6,428	6,775	6,799	6,814	6,774	6,736	6,864	6,899	6,639	7,041	6,471	6,656	7,000	7,007	6,921	6,521	6,616	6,778	6,758	7,068	6,953	6,888	6,952	6,689	7,115	6,828	7,094	7,212	7,175	6,828	7,091
Pulp and paper products	5,739	5,680	5,913	6,057	5,798	5,500	5,712	5,600	5,538	5,825	5,660	5,411	5,416	5,421	5,855	5,852	5,635	5,637	5,507	5,839	5,659	5,524	5,766	5,692	5,953	5,293	5,394	5,420	5,545	5,786	5,576
Iron and steel scrap	4,698	5,054	6,118	5,519	5,361	4,672	6,044	5,576	5,495	4,966	4,487	5,772	5,591	5,609	4,850	5,519	5,807	5,513	4,978	5,520	5,720	5,325	4,920	5,248	5,862	5,286	5,309	4,644	5,930	5,773	5,079
Waste and scrap	4,205	4,725	4,730	4,798	4,851	4,857	4,800	4,577	4,760	4,935	4,315	4,679	4,630	4,871	4,876	4,167	4,527	4,595	4,635	4,680	4,633	4,556	4,605	4,345	4,724	4,142	4,507	4,395	3,662	3,938	3,757
Lumber and wood products	3,278	3,635	3,536	3,743	3,836	3,596	3,689	3,617	3,593	3,656	3,598	3,704	3,892	3,491	3,699	3,385	3,615	3,722	3,534	3,500	3,684	3,651	3,449	3,351	3,367	3,181	3,133	3,186	3,062	3,141	3,167
Coke	4,253	3,954	4,690	3,629	3,911	4,140	3,951	4,344	4,407	4,109	3,908	4,007	4,206	4,123	4,810	4,411	3,878	3,881	3,918	4,206	4,256	4,348	3,488	3,675	4,154	4,428	4,118	3,911	4,562	4,298	4,575
Nonmetallic minerals	3,118	3,682	3,306	3,013	3,031	3,468	2,890	4,130	3,785	3,777	3,347	3,855	3,826	3,679	2,531	3,245	3,550	3,655	3,359	3,675	3,080	3,602	3,487	3,279	2,898	2,577	2,605	2,703	2,551	3,030	2,809
Primary forest products	1,210	1,110	1,149	943	1,324	1,206	1,235	1,025	1,259	1,163	1,095	1,156	1,235	1,044	1,197	1,113	848	1,131	1,221	1,116	1,110	1,079	1,024	1,155	1,198	1,029	1,008	1,239	1,000	1,243	1,134
Farm products except grain	880	881	905	785	708	1,020	889	830	800	739	860	931	907	785	835	793	998	909	619	898	756	859	1,006	752	875	995	858	1,122	859	925	933
All other traffic	4,941	5,845	5,333	4,404	5,501	5,822	5,920	4,796	5,629	5,078	6,443	6,559	5,774	5,600	5,527	6,239	6,894	6,349	4,873	6,847	5,294	5,699	5,608	6,335	6,069	5,418	6,130	6,025	6,247	6,481	5,779
By Class I Railroad6
BNSF Railway	170,214	182,684	182,633	179,491	176,076	174,549	177,176	175,371	174,255	170,719	165,383	172,988	173,695	168,555	171,863	166,148	174,815	166,479	170,841	170,970	169,212	172,057	166,556	166,597	167,733	166,413	167,506	173,024	178,064	172,697	178,185
Union Pacific	134,690	145,914	146,265	145,653	145,764	144,654	143,417	145,139	143,278	137,944	134,247	140,944	140,815	136,753	138,524	129,038	135,794	135,171	131,111	135,337	131,304	130,072	130,496	130,227	134,457	131,880	137,185	138,930	141,802	136,406	139,030
CSX Transportation	88,845	95,907	101,184	96,818	93,836	95,773	94,794	96,493	95,598	90,807	84,556	97,431	97,732	99,495	98,035	90,366	100,165	97,788	98,185	99,265	97,970	94,948	95,423	96,066	100,355	96,704	96,138	95,593	92,412	93,247	88,160
Norfolk Southern	96,914	104,115	107,862	105,740	104,314	106,973	106,879	105,213	105,601	100,081	93,358	109,439	104,477	110,233	109,566	101,946	108,427	106,990	108,475	107,501	108,847	106,459	104,795	105,701	111,009	105,769	106,337	105,816	102,739	103,767	103,445
Canadian National (US operations)	25,542	28,197	27,228	25,742	24,407	28,297	26,088	28,030	25,343	25,996	26,012	26,706	25,928	26,783	28,504	27,164	28,675	28,620	26,310	28,315	26,073	26,994	29,814	25,662	29,518	27,009	26,789	28,171	28,621	26,858	28,908
Canadian Pacific Kansas City	16,700	16,919	18,434	17,814	15,771	17,548	18,244	17,644	17,069	17,794	16,645	18,435	17,736	18,297	18,631	17,047	18,133	17,989	17,102	18,849	17,900	18,082	17,364	18,221	17,550	16,516	17,186	16,535	18,805	16,932	18,198

Latest reading

Total cars and originations stood at 532,905 Railcars in Sep 16, 2026. That is −7.1% from Sep 9, 2026 and −3.5% from a year earlier. The series on this page is weekly and runs from Mar 29, 2017 to Sep 16, 2026. Source: Surface Transportation Board (STB) — Rail Service Data, EP 724.

Latest: 532,905 Railcars; Sep 16, 2026
vs previous period: −7.1%; Sep 9, 2026
vs a year earlier: −3.5%

Look up any date

Pick a date between Mar 29, 2017 and Sep 16, 2026 to see every series in this table on that day. If there is no reading that day (weekend, holiday, or a weekly release), the last reading before it is shown.

About this data

US weekly rail freight traffic and carloads by commodity group from the STB. This table provides weekly railcar originations by Class I railroads in the United States, broken down across multiple commodity groups, starting from 2017. Data are reported directly by carriers to the Surface Transportation Board under Ex Parte No. 724. For historical comparisons, analysts track intermodal traffic and carloads separately.

Frequently asked questions

What does the US Rail Freight Traffic by Commodity Group table measure?: It measures weekly railcar originations and intermodal units transported by Class I railroads in the United States, categorized by specific commodity groups and individual carriers.
How often is this data published and how far back does it go?: The data is published weekly by the Surface Transportation Board and historical series begin from 2017.
What breakdowns are available in this dataset?: The dataset includes breakdowns by various commodity groups such as coal, chemicals, grain, and motor vehicles, alongside separate counts for intermodal containers and trailers by Class I railroads.
How should intermodal traffic be compared with traditional carloads?: Intermodal traffic consisting of containers and trailers is counted in units rather than railcars, so analysts should evaluate carload traffic and intermodal volume separately rather than relying solely on the aggregate total.