Railway carloadings

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October 2011 (Previous release)

Total freight traffic carried by Canadian railways rose to 28.4 million tonnes in October, up 10.1% from October 2010. The increase was the result of strong gains in cargo loadings from both sides of the border.

From a domestic perspective, the rail industry's freight loadings rose 7.8% to 25.0 million tonnes in October compared with the same month in 2010.

Non-intermodal cargo loadings rose to 22.6 million tonnes in October, up 8.7% from October 2010. The gain was the result of increases in more than half of the commodity classifications carried by railways. The commodity groups with the largest increases in tonnage were other cereal grains, lumber and colza seeds (canola).

Intermodal freight loadings of containers and trailers loaded on flat cars remained relatively unchanged at 2.4 million tonnes in October compared with the same month one year earlier.

At an international level, traffic received from the United States rose to 3.4 million tonnes in October, a strong increase of 30.4% compared with October 2010. The gain was mainly driven by increased non-intermodal traffic.

Geographically, 59.4% 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 on CANSIM: table 404-0002.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2732.

The October 2011 issue of Monthly Railway Carloadings, Vol. 88, no. 10 (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.