Canadian Rail Freight Volume Rises 8.0% Year-Over-Year in August

On Monday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that Canadian railways transported 32.8 million tons of freight in August, up 8.0% from August 2025. This marked the fifth consecutive month of annual gains.

Total freight volume exceeded the previous five-year average of 30.4 million tons for August, as higher shipments of agricultural products more than offset continued declines in iron ore and coal.

The year-over-year increase reflected higher volumes across all three major freight categories: domestic non-intermodal loadings (mainly commodities), domestic intermodal loadings (mainly containers), and freight traffic received from US rail connections.

Domestic intermodal shipments, primarily containers, increased 4.7% year-over-year to 3.3 million tons in August. The increase followed five consecutive months of year-over-year declines.

Freight traffic arriving from the US rose 14.6% year-over-year to 4.0 million tons in August, marking the seventh consecutive monthly year-over-year increase. Volumes also exceeded the previous five-year average of 3.8 million tons for August.