Railway carloadings

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Canadian railways carried 23.1 million tonnes of freight in January, up 4.9% from January 2010.

The gain was the result of a rise in non-intermodal domestic traffic as well as traffic received from railway connections in the United States.

Non-intermodal traffic rose to 18.8 million tonnes in January, up 5.4% compared with the same month last year. The rise is attributable to increased loadings in 43 of the 63 commodity groups carried by Canadian railways. The commodity groups with the largest gains in tonnage were potash, wood pulp and lumber.

Intermodal freight loadings fell 2.9% from January 2010 to a little less than 2.0 million tonnes in January. The drop was the result of a decline in both containerized cargo shipments and trailers loaded on flat cars.

On an international scale, traffic received from the United States destined for or passing through Canada rose 8.0% from January 2010 to 2.3 million tonnes in January. Gains in both non-intermodal and intermodal loadings contributed to the increased traffic.

On a geographic basis, 56.6% of the freight traffic originating in Canada was loaded 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 January 2011 issue of Monthly Railway Carloadings, Vol. 88, 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 Client Services (toll-free 1-866-500-8400; transportationstatistics@statcan.gc.ca), Transportation Division.