Rail Traffic Still Down From a Weak 2008 for Week Ending July 17, 2010

Why Rail? In 2008, America?s railroads moved a ton of freight an average of 457 miles on one gallon of fuel. On average, railroads are four times more fuel efficient than trucks. Moving freight by rail instead of truck reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent. The Association of American Railroads reported that rail traffic continues to reflect the sluggish economy with U.S. railroads originating 282,199 carloads for the week ending July 17, 2010, up 5.5 percent compared with the same week in 2009, but down 13.8 percent from pre-recession levels in 2008.