According to Statistics Canada, the volume of rail freight carried in Canada totaled 26.8 million tons in February, an increase of 4.5 percent from the same month last year.
Freight originating in Canada increased 7.0 percent to 24.4 million tons. These shipments are composed of both non-intermodal and intermodal freight.
Non-intermodal freight rose 8.9 percent to 270,000 carloads in February. The amount of freight loaded into these cars totaled 21.8 million tons, up 7.1 percent from the same month last year. The rise reflected an increase in freight loadings of iron ores and concentrates (up 0.5 million tons), canola (up 0.4 million tons), other oil seeds and nuts and other agricultural products (up 0.3 million tons), and lumber (up 0.2 million tons).
For the third consecutive month, the tonnage of coal, potash, and fuel oils and crude petroleum shipped by rail posted a year-over-year decline in February.
Intermodal freight loadings rose 7.8 percent to 173,000 units in February. In terms of weight, intermodal traffic grew 5.5 percent to 2.6 million tons as a result of an increase in containerized cargo shipments.
Freight traffic received from the United States fell 15.1 percent to 2.5 million tons as a result of a decrease in both non-intermodal and intermodal shipments.
From February 2011 to February 2016, the total volume of rail freight carried in Canada increased 19.2 percent.