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Freight Railroad Ton-Miles & Intermodal Volume

This page includes two tables of U.S. freight railroad volume statistics. The first table uses ton-miles, a measure of freight weight and distance hauled, to illustrate the growth of railroad traffic since 1890. The second table shows rail intermodal volume (containers and trailers) since 1961. Data was compiled from Association of American Railroads (AAR) reports with charts and analysis by RailServe.com. See also: State Railroad Statistics, Rail Traffic Mix Stats, Crude By Rail Stats, Railcar Stats, Financial Statistics Note: This page is copyright © RailServe.com. Content may not be reproduced in whole or in part on any website, message board, or other medium. A link to this page is required when citing figures or charts. Please contact us with any questions.
FREIGHT VOLUME (TON-MILES)
Year	Ton-Miles (billions)
1890	76
1900	142
1910	255
1920	414
1930	386
1940	375
1950	592
1960	575
1970	771
1980	932
1990	1064
2000	1546
2010	1691
2014	1851

RAIL INTERMODAL VOLUME (CONTAINERS & TRAILERS)
Year	Total Units (millions)	Year	Containers (millions)	Trailers (millions)	Total Units* (millions)
1961	0.9	1988	2.3	3.5	5.8
1962	1.2	1989	2.5	3.5	6.0
1963	1.3	1990	2.8	3.5	6.2
1964	1.4	1991	3.0	3.2	6.2
1965	1.7	1992	3.4	3.3	6.6
1966	1.9	1993	3.7	3.5	7.2
1967	2.0	1994	4.4	3.8	8.1
1968	2.4	1995	4.4	3.5	7.9
1969	2.5	1996	4.8	3.3	8.1
1970	2.4	1997	5.2	3.5	8.7
1971	2.2	1998	5.4	3.4	8.8
1972	2.4	1999	5.7	3.2	8.9
1973	2.7	2000	6.3	2.9	9.2
1974	2.7	2001	6.3	2.6	8.9
1975	2.2	2002	6.8	2.5	9.3
1976	2.5	2003	7.3	2.6	9.9
1977	2.9	2004	8.1	2.9	11.0
1978	3.3	2005	8.7	3.0	11.7
1979	3.4	2006	9.4	2.9	12.3
1980	3.1	2007	9.4	2.6	12.0
1981	3.2	2008	9.0	2.5	11.5
1982	3.4	2009	8.2	1.6	9.9
1983	4.1	2010	9.6	1.7	11.3
1984	4.6	2011	10.2	1.7	11.9
1985	4.6	2012	10.8	1.5	12.3
1986	5.0	2013	11.4	1.5	12.8
1987	5.5	2014	12.0	1.6	13.5
		* 1988 is the first year containers and trailers were reported separately;
		total units may not sum due to rounding