Which Twenty Weeks Built the Chemical Carload Record?
AAR has US chemical carloads on pace for a new annual record and up 2.2 percent through October 24. We transcribed 84 of its weekly reports and took the difference week by week: three quarters of that gain was on the books by late May, and the twenty-two weeks since have run 1.03 percent.
The Association of American Railroads has US chemical carloads on pace to set a new annual record this year.
Its weekly report, published days later, has them up 0.6%.
Neither number is wrong. The year-to-date line reads +2.2%, and the week ended October 24 moved 33,074 cars against 32,864 in the matching week of 2025.
"If the record is real, which weeks of the year actually built it?"
Twenty of them.
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