https://www.aar.org/news/rail-traffic-for-july-and-the-week-ending-july-30-2022/

total traffic for july down 1.5%, but...

i guess here is the positive in this report... mixed traffic carloads are up 0.2%... container traffic is off 3%.

all those categories of mixed freight are up only slightly, but this is mostly raw materials.  half the categories are up.  and half are down.  raw materials are more likely to reflect the domestic economy.  (my opinion).

containers are down.  this is more likely to reflect final consumer goods.   and a LOT of container traffic comes from china.  so some of this decline may be due to the continued china shutdown.  

in other words, if it were not for china, then the figures would probably look better.  

the big problem is not so much the small drop in traffic,  but the surge in inflation.