On Friday the AAR said US coal carloads totaled 228,224, showing no change year on year, while intermodal units were 252,807 versus the same week last year.

Total combined traffic was up 1.2% to 541,031 units, versus 2012.

The AAR said the biggest commodity gains were seen in petroleum and petroleum products at just over 37%.

Industrial products volume rose 8%.

Coal, down 3%, was among the worst of 10 major calculated sectors, along with a 10% drop in agricultural products volumes.

Looking at the first 25 weeks of 2013, US railroads reported a cumulative volume of 6,936,532 carloads, a reduction of 1.6% compared to the same point last year.

Total US traffic for the first 25 weeks of 2013 was 12,957,297 carloads and intermodal units, up about 1% from 2012.

Canadian railroads reported 76,625 carloads to the AAR for the week ended June 22, up 1.5% over the same week last year.

Intermodal units, at 55,283, rose 2.1% year on year.

For the first 25 weeks of the year Canadian railroads reported cumulative volumes of 1,959,476 carloads, a rise of 2.2% from the same point of 2012, and 1,311,619 intermodal units, up 4.7% over the same period.

The AAR said its Mexican railroads reported a 6.8% increase in carloads for the week, to 16,369, though intermodal units at 10,466 were down about 3% year-on-year.

Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 25 weeks of the year was 381,351 carloads, a year-on-year spike of just under 10%.

Intermodal units were down about 0.2% to 232,447.

The association said combined North American rail volume for the first 25 weeks of the year was 9,277,359 carloads, a drop of 0.4%, with 7,564,831 trailers and containers firming a year-on-year rise of about 4%.