Rail traffic declines by 18 percent.

The recession is hurting American railroads. Freight carloads declined by 20 percent in June to 1,039,889 carloads, 255,668 fewer carloads compared with June 2008, according to the Association of American Railroads. Intermodal rail traffic, which includes trailers and containers on flat cars that are not counted in the carload figures, totaled 755,000 in June, down 18 percent (168,031) from the same month last year. For the first six months of 2009, total rail carloads were down 19.5 percent (1,594,411) to 6,579,294, while intermodal traffic was down 17 percent (950,147 units) to 4,647,068.

In June, the biggest carload declines were for coal (down 8 percent, or 42,762 carloads); motor vehicles and equipment (down 50 percent, or 36,598 carloads); metals and metal products (down 60 percent, or 32,253 carloads); and crushed stone and gravel (down 25 percent, or 21,840 carloads).

"Whenever Americans grow something, eat something, mine something, make something, turn on a light or get dressed, freight railroads are probably involved somewhere along the line," said AAR vice president John Gray. "Unfortunately, right now there's not enough mining, manufacturing and buying going on. So railroads, like most other business sectors, are suffering because of it."

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