October 09, 2025
Canadian railways total freight volume were down 0.4% in July
Statistics Canada reports that the volume of cargo carried by Canadian railways reached 30.7 million tonnes in July 2025, down 0.4% from one year earlier. Despite this decline, the overall freight volume in July 2025 was slightly above the five-year historical average of 29.8 million tonnes for the month of July.
Lower volumes of freight traffic from connections with American railways drove the overall traffic decrease in July. Freight loadings from US rail connections dropped 19.2% (-794 000 tonnes) to 3.3 million tonnes, the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year decline.
Non-intermodal freight traffic in Canada rose 1.6% year over year to 24.2 million tonnes in July 2025, the highest level for the month since 2019. The gain was led by strong loadings of three commodities in particular: iron ore and concentrates (+10.5%; +469 000 tonnes), coal (+12.9%; +388 000 tonnes) and wheat (+15.2%; +275 000 tonnes). Declines in loadings of other commodities dampened the overall growth in non-intermodal traffic in July 2025.
In July 2025, intermodal shipments-mainly containers-originating in Canada increased 9.4% compared with July 2024 to 3.2 million tonnes, marking the fifth consecutive month of positive growth.