Total U.S. coal rail traffic for the week ended March 16 slipped 16.0% year over year to 72,190 carloads, according to data from the Association of American Railroads.

Year-to-date coal rail traffic dropped 4.9% through the week, while total rail traffic for the week decreased 6.8% year over year to 501,001 carloads and intermodal units.

BNSF Railway Co. coal shipment volumes clocked in at 27,528 carloads in the week ended March 16, sliding 15.4% from the previous week's 32,520 carloads and falling 22.7% from 35,613 carloads in the year-ago week.

Union Pacific Corp.'s coal shipment volumes this week were at 15,788 carloads, growing 1.5% from 15,550 carloads the previous week but slipping 25.8% compared to the previous year's weekly volume of 21,283.

Eastern railroad CSX Transportation Inc.'s shipment volumes of coal stood at 16,332 carloads, growing 4.7% from the previous week's 15,600 carloads and up by 9.0% compared to 14,977 carloads the same week in the previous year.

Norfolk Southern Corp.'s coal shipment volumes totaled 18,938 carloads for the week, increasing 1.5% from the previous week's 18,652 carloads but declining 9.3% compared to 20,877 carloads the same week a year ago.

Kansas City Southern's latest weekly coal shipment volume was 2,052 carloads, declining 11.8% from 2,327 carloads the previous week. The railroad serves 10 U.S. states and Mexico.

Data collected by S&P Global Market Intelligence from railroads indicate both cars originated on their lines during the week and cars received from a connecting railroad during the same week.