Railcar Utilization Rates

Industry Discussions Railroads
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Many years ago I was a Controller of a small portfolio of railcars. I had done an analysis of railcar utilization and how strong of a leading economic indicator that it was.

Watch this space:

The AAR Freight Rail Index (FRI) of seasonally-adjusted intermodal shipments plus carloads excluding coal and grain fell 0.8% in September from August 2025, its fifth decline in the past six months. “Still, the index is only 1% below its level from a year earlier, indicating that recent weakness reflects a gradual adjustment rather than a sharp downturn,” Ghayad said.

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Freight has always been seen as an economic indicator. Some watch the Dow transportation index as an indicator.

This time you have to wonder about the impact of tariffs. Some hurried imports to beat rising tariffs and now are working off inventory.

We shall see how long the tariff dip lasts. Holiday inventory is probably already here. I think carrying 3 mo inventory would be a practical limit. Winter qtr is always slow in railroading. We hope for recovery next spring—in time for the Easter bunny!!