Rail traffic in North America grew by 2% between January and May 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported .

According to the agency’s report, the rail volume in the first 18 weeks of the year was 12 million 468 thousand 690 wagons and intermodal units .

He specified that in that cycle, the segments that grew the most were grains with an increase of 13.7%, oil and petroleum products with an annual increase of 6%, as well as agricultural products with 8 percent.

Meanwhile, Mexican railways participated with 478,587 railcars, containers and intermodal trailers , which represented an increase of 16.3% compared to the same period last year.

The AAR specified that the segments that grew the most in traffic between Mexico and the United States were vehicles and parts, grains, intermodal and chemicals , to name a few.

Meanwhile, Canadians reported a cumulative rail traffic volume of 2,940,777 wagons, containers and trailers , a 0.2% year-on-year increase.

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El cargo Rail traffic in North America grows in the first 18 weeks of 2026 apareció primero en T21.

Rail freight movement between Mexico and the United States ended 2025 with a 5.5% year-over-year decline , the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported

According to the agency’s statistics, the accumulated volume in Mexican railways during the past year was 1,235,581 wagons, containers and intermodal trailers.

He specified that, with the exception of intermodal transport and the movement of vehicles and parts , which had increases of 0.04% and 2.8%, respectively, the other sectors showed decreases.

Regarding Canadian railways, the AAR specified that the cumulative volume of rail traffic in 2025 was 8,387,041 wagons, containers and trailers, an increase of 2% compared to 2024 .

Under this scenario, North American rail traffic for 2025 was 35 million 187 thousand 052 railcars and intermodal units, a year-on-year increase of 1.4%.

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El cargo Rail freight between Mexico and the US, “on the back burner” in 2025 apareció primero en T21.

The  Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported an 8.9% decline in freight traffic between Mexico and the United States during the first 33 weeks of 2025, compared to the same period in 2024.

According to the report, during that period, the accumulated volume on Mexican railways was 763,186 wagons and containers, as well as intermodal trailers .

The AAR detailed that all segments experienced declines over the cycle, with coal, forestry products, petroleum and petroleum products, grains, and chemicals being the most affected.

The agency also indicated that Mexican railroads reported 11,687 loaded cars in the week ending August 16, a 22.8 percent decrease compared to the same period last year , and 10,123 intermodal units, a 23.3 percent drop.

It’s worth mentioning that, unlike the AAR, the Railway Transport Regulatory Agency (ARTF) stopped publishing operational and safety statistics for the Mexican railway system last March.

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El cargo Rail freight between Mexico and the US declines: AAR apareció primero en T21.

Rail freight between Mexico and the United States continues to decline, with a 6.5% decrease recorded during the first 28 weeks of the year compared to the same period in 2024 , according to information from the Association of American Railroads (AAR) .

The agency noted that the cumulative volume on Mexican railroads during that period was 671,292 intermodal wagons, containers, and trailers.

Of all the products moving between the two countries, only vehicles and parts, as well as various merchandise, achieved growth of 1.2% and 6.7% , respectively.

The rest of the sectors, including chemicals and grains, showed declines during the same period, as did intermodal units, with a slight decrease of 0.8 percent.

The AAR also detailed that Mexican railroads registered 15,875 loaded cars in the week ending July 12, which represented a 40.4% increase compared to the same period last year , as well as 10,661 intermodal units, a 12.6% increase in the cycle.

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El cargo AAR reports decline in US-Mexico rail freight movement apareció primero en T21.

Amid a tightening of tariff policies by the United States government, rail freight traffic between Mexico and its northern neighbor registered a 10.1% drop through mid-April compared to the same period in 2024.

According to figures from the Association of American Railroads (AAR) , the cumulative volume moved by railroads between both borders was 376,337 railcars, containers, and intermodal trailers.

This recorded decline was driven by a drop in all segments analyzed , except for intermodal freight , which rose slightly by 1.7% and which represents 46.4% of the total rail cars.

The sectors that registered the greatest decline were non-metallic minerals, metallic minerals and metals, agricultural products except cereals, and food.

Data from the  Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) , an office of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) , indicates that as of the second month of this year, the rail share of trade with the United States was 10.9% , equivalent to seven billion 488 million dollars, compared to eight billion 344 million dollars in 2024, which translates into a drop of 9.9 percent.

Carlos Barreda Westphal, director of the Ferroviaria.mx platform  , noted that based on figures recently published by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) , during the first quarter of this year, trade relations between Mexico and the United States showed a surplus equivalent to 4% compared to the same period in 2024.

In contrast, he commented, the AAR has published negative results regarding rail freight traffic in Mexico, stating that there were declines in virtually all types of freight transported.

“These two indicators are linked since the largest percentage of freight moved by rail in our country is linked to trade with the United States, although the opposite is true: we import more goods by this means of transport than we export,” he explained.

He also specified that the AAR excludes the operations of Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), which is the country’s second-largest cargo operator and responsible for serving the main rail border crossing in Nuevo Laredo.

“So, for now, the available information is incomplete, although it could easily be estimated that the results will actually be positive if we take into account the results obtained by Grupo México Transportes during the first quarter and the increases in purchases that were anticipated as a preventive measure against the entry into force of the tariffs announced by the Donald Trump administration,” he opined.

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El cargo Rail freight between Mexico and the U.S. fell 10.1% from January to April; only intermodal freight grew. apareció primero en T21.