Total U.S. coal rail traffic for the week ended Aug. 4 increased 0.7% year over year to 93,324 carloads, according to data from the Association of American Railroads. Year-to-date coal rail traffic dropped 0.4% through the week, while total rail traffic for the week rose 4.2% year over year to 570,995 carloads and intermodal units.

BNSF Railway Co.'s coal shipment volumes clocked in at 41,682 carloads in the week ended Aug. 4, up 12.2% from the previous week's 37,156 carloads and increasing 3.8% compared to 40,164 carloads the year-ago week.

Union Pacific Corp.'s coal shipment volumes this week were at 24,404 carloads, growing 6.4% from 22,935 carloads the previous week but down 5.7% compared to last year's weekly volume of 25,871.

Eastern railroad CSX Transportation Inc.'s shipment volumes of coal stood at 16,501 carloads, falling 3.5% from the previous week's 17,108 carloads, but rising 15.6% compared to 14,280 carloads the same week in the previous year.

Norfolk Southern Corp.'s coal shipment volumes totaled 19,368 carloads for the week, growing 2.5% from the previous week's 18,900 carloads, but slipped 7.0% compared to 20,825 carloads the same week a year ago.

Kansas City Southern Railway Co.'s latest weekly coal shipment volume was 2,849 carloads, climbing less than 1% from 2,832 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.