New York — US coal train loadings rose to an averaged 100.2 trains/day for the week ended July 21, up from 98.2 trains/day the week prior, Surface Transportation Board data showed Thursday.
Trains per day dropped 0.6% from the year-ago week, the smallest fall from 2017 for the past nine weeks.
Total loadings for the most recently concluded week are also 2.4 trains/day above the entire 2017 average of 98.6 trains/day.
Averaged train loadings in the Powder River Basin dropped to 54.7 trains/day from 59.9 trains/day the prior week, a percentage drop of 8.7% on week and down 11.6% on year.
Loadings in the PRB for the week ended July 21 are 2.3 trains/day less than the entire 2017 average of 57 trains/day.
Illinois Basin averaged loadings rose by 0.6 trains/day, up 8.4% on week and up 1.7% from the same week in 2017. IB trains per day for the week were higher by 0.3 trains/day than the full 2017 average.
The Appalachian regions experienced the largest increases in averaged trains per day compared to PRB or IB, and both saw higher loadings per day than the 2017 averaged trains per day.
North Appalachia loadings rose to 12.3 trains/day, breaking double digits for the first time in July. NAPP also increased by 30% on week, the highest percentage rise compared to the other regions, and NAPP increased 17.9% from the year-ago week. NAPPs averaged loadings were 1.7 trains/day higher than the entire 2017 average of 10.6 trains/day.
Central Appalachia rose to 17.2 trains/day from 13.9 trains/day the prior week, up 24.3% on week and 41.6% from the year-ago week. CAPP loadings were also 1.6 trains/more than the entire 2017 average.
