Railway carloadings, May 2026

Released: 2026-07-27

Highlights

In May, Canadian railways carried 33.3 million tonnes of freight, up slightly (+1.0%) from May 2025. In May 2026, higher shipments of grains and some energy products offset declines in coal and iron ores.

The overall tonnage in May was above the five-year average for the month (31.8 million tonnes) and close to the record volume of 34.7 million tonnes reached in May 2019.

Consult the Rail Data Visualization Hub to explore monthly and annual rail statistics in an interactive format.

Chart 1 
Railway carloadings, total tonnage

In May 2026, the increase in rail traffic was the result of higher volumes of domestic non-intermodal loadings (mainly commodities) as well as freight traffic received from railway connections in the United States, offsetting a slight decline in domestic intermodal loadings (mainly containers).

Carloadings of wheat, fuel oils and canola lead increase

Loadings of non-intermodal freight edged up 0.1% year over year to 26.0 million tonnes in May.

Rail carloadings of many agricultural products continued to exhibit growth in May, with carloadings of wheat rising sharply by 12.3% (+332 000 tonnes) from the same month in 2025.

Meanwhile, loadings of canola posted a year-over-year increase for the fourth consecutive month, rising 27.0% (+232 000 tonnes) in May 2026, following strong gains in March (+18.8%) and April (+27.3%).

The increase in railway carloadings of grains in May coincided with the year-over-year increase in Canadian exports of farm, fishing and intermediate food products.

In addition, loadings of fuel oils and crude petroleum grew for the sixth consecutive month in May, up 31.4% (+232 000 tonnes) from the same month a year earlier.

Chart 2 
Railway carloadings, largest commodity differences, May 2025 to May 2026

Carloadings of coal and iron ores continue to slide

In May, loadings of coal dropped by 747 000 tonnes from the same month one year earlier, marking the third consecutive month of year-over-year decline. This drop, while smaller than that recorded in April (-862 000 tonnes), may reflect weakness in global demand for industrial energy, particularly from Asia.

Railway carloadings of iron ores and concentrates—feedstock for the production of steel—were down 12.3% (-638 000 tonnes) year over year in May, the largest drop in tonnage since January 2022.

Canada's export of coal (-2.5%) and iron ores and concentrates (-26.6%) also fell in May 2026, both declining year-over-year as published in the International trade monthly interactive dashboard.

Intermodal traffic remains down

In May, intermodal shipments—mainly containers—originating in Canada declined on a year-over-year basis for the third consecutive month, edging down 0.9% to 3.4 million tonnes.

Continued declines in intermodal loadings volume may reflect a weakening of demand for imported goods, as Canadian international merchandise trade data reported that imports of consumer goods fell 2.8% year over year in May.

Freight from the United States up again

In May, 4.0 million tonnes of rail freight were received from the United States, an increase of 8.8%, or 321 000 tonnes, from May of the previous year and above the five-year average for the month of May (3.8 million tonnes).

Contact information

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