The Journal of Commerce reported that U.S. operations of the seven Class I carriers, plus a few regional railroads that report to the AAR, originated 276,357 carloads of bulk commodities and equipment, up from 275,545 in the week ending Oct. 17.

The AAR-reporting lines loaded 207,401 intermodal units -- roughly 85 percent of them containers and 15 percent trailers -- in the Oct. 24 week, up from 206,139 the previous week.

Shipments of coal, the largest cargo for large railroads, fell last week. But the carriers had stronger loadings across a range of other carload shipment types including motor vehicles and equipment, construction base materials like stone and sand, grain, chemicals and scrap.

Measured in ton-miles, major rail traffic in the Oct. 24 week was down 13.4 percent from a year earlier, improved from a 13.9 percent year-over-year drop a week earlier.