Locomotive Emissions Monitoring Program - Railway Association of ...

2.1.1
Freight Carloads by Commodity Grouping
Figure 2
Canadian Rail Originated Freight Carloads by Commodity Grouping
2
6
22
1
11
9
15
11% Agriculture
9% Coal
15% Minerals
7% Forest Products
1 0 % M e t a l s
5% Machinery & Auto
12% Fuels & Chemicals
6% Paper Products
1% Food Products
2% Manufactured & Miscellaneous
22% Intermodal
12
5
10
7
2.1.2
Class I Intermodal Traffic
The number of intermodal carloads handled by the Class I railways in Canada in 2008 rose to 845,684 from 828,020 in
2007, an increase of 2.1 per cent. Intermodal tonnage dropped 1.3 per cent to 32.29 million tonnes from 32.70 million
tonnes in 2007. Overall, since 1990 intermodal tonnage comprising both container-on-flat-car and trailer-on-flat-car
traffic has risen 152.5 per cent equating to an average annual growth of 8.5 per cent.
Figure 3
Class I Intermodal Tonnage
million
40
40
152.5 per cent increase since 1990
30
20
10
10
0
0 1990 91 92 93 94 1995 96 97 98 99 2000 01 02 03 04 2005 06 07 08
Class I intermodal RTK totalled 83.32 billion in 2008 versus 84.73 billion for 2007, a drop of 1.7 per cent. Of
the 324.99 billion RTK transported by the Class I railways in 2008, intermodal accounted for 25.6 per cent of
their RTK 2 .
Intermodal service growth is an indication that the Canadian railways have been effective in partnering with
shippers and the trucking industry to affect a modal shift in the transportation of goods. According to railway sector
analysts, each intermodal carload displaces about 2.8 trucks from Canada’s highways 3 .
2 2008 Railway Trends, Railway Association of Canada
3 RAC / AAR
6 LEM 2008