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This report covers train and intermodal container movements on Union Pacific and BNSF railways in the southwest United States.
Union Pacific
Train volumes through this region are dominated by intermodal. For Union Pacific trains traveling eastbound through Southern California, intermodal makes up 65% of total train volume.
Manifest trains account for 25% of train traffic through this corridor and Automotive trains make up the remainder.
In the westbound direction, there are far fewer automotive trains. Over the previous 10 days, 1,490 autoracks moved eastbound while only 821 traveled westbound.
Intermodal controls a larger share of westbound Union Pacific train traffic, accounting for 71% of all train movements.
BNSF
BNSF moves a slightly broader mix of trains than Union Pacific but intermodal remains dominant. Intermodal trains make up 79% of eastbound traffic through Arizona. Manifest trains account for 14% and the remainder of trains are a mix of automotive, coal, grain, and petroleum trains.
Intermodal makes up a slightly smaller percentage of trains moving westbound on BNSF, 73% compared to 79% in the eastbound direction. Westbound traffic was also slightly lower over the previous ten days with 225 trains moving in this direction compared to 234 moving eastbound along the same route.
Intermodal
Union Pacific moved 27,252 containers eastbound through southern California over the past 10 days, a slim majority (52.4%) of which were domestic containers.
BNSF moved a total of 38,414 containers over the previous ten days. This included a higher proportion of domestic intermodal than Union Pacific. Domestic containers accounted for 58% of volume.
From October 15 to October 24, 65,666 containers moved east on these two routes through the southwest United States. BNSF moved 58.5% of the total container volume and 61% of the domestic container volume.
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