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Railway carloadings
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The volume of cargo carried by Canadian railways fell in September, as a result of a drop in commodity loadings in Canada as well as traffic received from the United States.
Total freight traffic originating in Canada and freight received from the United States fell to 22.3 million metric tonnes in September, down 15.9% from September 2008.
Compared with September 2008, freight loaded in Canada fell 15.0% to 19.9 million metric tonnes in September. Both non-intermodal and intermodal transportation systems accounted for the overall drop in cargo loaded.
Non-intermodal freight loadings, which are typically carried in bulk or loaded in box cars, declined 15.5% to 17.8 million metric tonnes. The decrease was the result of reduced loadings in the majority of the commodity groups carried by the railways. The commodity groups with the largest declines in tonnage were iron ore and concentrates, potash, colza seeds (canola), and lumber.
Despite the overall drop in non-intermodal loadings, the industry saw a strong gain in loadings of coal, rising 9.4% to about 3.0 million metric tonnes.
Intermodal freight loadings decreased 10.1% compared with September 2008 to 2.1 million metric tonnes. The decline in loadings was attributable to a decrease in both containerized cargo shipments and trailers loaded onto flat cars.
Rail freight traffic coming from the United States fell to 2.3 million metric tonnes, down 23.5% from September 2008.
From a geographic perspective, 59.1% of the overall volume of cargo loaded by Canadian railways was in the Western Division of Canada, with the remainder loaded in the Eastern Division. The Eastern and Western Divisions, for statistical purposes, are separated by an imaginary line running from Thunder Bay to Armstrong, Ontario. Freight loaded at Thunder Bay is included in the Western Division while loadings at Armstrong are reported in the Eastern Division.
Available on CANSIM: table 404-0002.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2732.
The September 2009 issue of Monthly Railway Carloadings, Vol. 86, no. 9 (52-001-X, free), is now available from the Publications module of our website.
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact the Dissemination Unit (toll-free 1-866-500-8400; fax: 613-951-0009; transportationstatistics@statcan.gc.ca), Transportation Division.
