Railway carloadings

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January 2012 (preliminary) (Previous release)

Canadian railways carried 24.9 million tonnes of freight in January, up 7.3% from January 2011. The gain was the result of increases in both domestic and international cargo loadings.

On the domestic front, the railway industry's core transportation systems, non-intermodal and intermodal, saw their combined freight loadings rise 5.2% to 21.9 million tonnes over the same 12-month period.

Non-intermodal cargo loadings, which are typically carried in bulk or loaded in box cars, advanced 4.9% to 19.6 million tonnes. The gain was the result of increased traffic in more than half of the commodity classifications carried by the railways. The commodity groups with the largest increases in tonnage were coal, wheat and colza seeds (canola).

Intermodal freight loadings of containers and trailers loaded onto flat cars grew 8.0% to 2.2 million tonnes. The increase occurred solely on the strength of containerized cargo shipments as trailers loaded onto flat cars declined.

Internationally, total rail freight traffic received from the United States experienced a 25.4% gain to 3.0 million tonnes. The increase was driven by both non-intermodal and intermodal traffic.

Geographically, 60.6% of the freight traffic originating in Canada was in the Western Division of Canada, with the remainder loaded in the Eastern Division. For statistical purposes, the Eastern and Western Divisions 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 without charge in CANSIM: table 404-0002.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2732.

The January 2012 issue of Monthly Railway Carloadings, Vol. 89, no. 1 (52-001-X, free), is now available from the Key resource module of our website under Publications.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Statistics Canada's National Contact Centre (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 613-951-8116; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or the Media Hotline (613-951-4636; statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@canada.ca), Communications Division.