Rail Traffic Depression: 292 Union Pacific Engines Are Sitting In The Arizona Desert Doing Nothing

Union Pacific Engines - Google Earth

We continue to get more evidence that the U.S. economy has entered a major downturn.  Just last week, I wrote about how U.S. GDP growth numbers have been declining for three quarters in a row, and previously I wrote about how corporate defaults have surged to their highest level since the last financial crisis.  Well, now we are getting some very depressing numbers from the rail industry.  As you will see below, U.S. rail traffic was down more than 11 percent from a year ago in April.  That is an absolutely catastrophic number, and the U.S. rail industry is feeling an enormous amount of pain right now.  This also tells us that “the real economy” is really slowing down, because less stuff is being shipped by rail all over the nation.

One of the economic commentators that I have really come to respect is Wolf Richter of WolfStreet.com.  He has a really sharp eye for what is really going on in the economy and in the financial world, and I find myself quoting him more and more as time goes by.  If you have not checked out his site yet, I very much encourage you to do so.

On Wednesday, he posted a very alarming article about what is happening to our rail industry.  The kinds of numbers that we have been seeing recently are the kinds of numbers that we would expect if an economic depression was starting.  The following is an excerpt from that article

Total US rail traffic in April plunged 11.8% from a year ago, the Association of American Railroads reported today. Carloads of bulk commodities such as coal, oil, grains, and chemicals plummeted 16.1% to 944,339 units.

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Rani
Rani
8 years ago

This ties in nicely with the rest of the story…there is a reason Hillary and the rest like the young, new immigrants, blacks and Latinos, they are so important to the political class.. They make the economy appear to be healthy. Buying bullshit. Sneakers, electronics, and debt!
Did you see the jobs report today? Or the news that Obama is planning to do some big legislation that makes the banks tell all.
We have 30 million people out of work. Henderson Trump!

fjord
fjord
8 years ago

Trucking is down too.

…well, obviously, because everything offloaded from trains, goes onto trucks to be distributed.

Mark
Mark
8 years ago

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/bankruptcy-mayhem-oil-patch-chart/

Check out the oil patch…a lot of roughnecks have that sinking feeling