The AAR said late last week that US carloads in November were up 1.3% to 1,145,353 units. Intermodal loads totalled 1,007,549, up 7.8%.

Eleven of 20 commodity groups, including petroleum (20%) and motor vehicles and parts (10.8%), registered improvements during the month. Metallic ores and coal were the biggest losers with drops of 10.1% and 4.3%, respectively.

The AAR said that excluding coal’s disappointing performance, US carloads increased a notable 5.3%.

“Carload traffic continues to be consistent with an economy that's growing at a moderate pace,” association senior vice-president John Gray said.

“Meanwhile, rail intermodal volume was extremely strong in November, demonstrating the tremendous value that intermodal has become for rail customers.”

Through the first 48 weeks of 2013, the 13 railroads in the US, Canada and Mexico that report data to AAR said that they handled a combined 18,061,339 carloads, up 0.4% year on year.

Containers and trailers came in at a total of 14,949,592, up 4.2%.