Canadian Rail Traffic Rises in February

On Monday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that Canadian railways carried 29.4 million tons of cargo in February, a 9.8% increase from February 2025, driven by higher volumes of agricultural products, container movements, and freight from US connections.

StatCan noted that rail freight typically slows in February due to fewer days and colder weather, but February volumes were above the five-year average for the month and just below the recent high of 30.7 million tons recorded in February 2024.

The increase was broad-based across all rail operations, including non-intermodal loadings, primarily commodities, intermodal shipments such as containers, and cross-border freight traffic.

Freight loadings from US rail connections rose 16.1% year-over-year to 3.2 million tons, marking the first annual increase after 12 consecutive months of declines. However, volumes remained below the five-year average of 3.4 million tons for February.