Statistics Canada’s July railway carloadings release, published September 28, reported 31.7 million metric tonnes of freight transported by Canadian railways during the month. That was 2.6% above July 2025 and the third-highest total on record for a July. The agency put the five-year average for July at 30.1 million tonnes, below the 2026 observation. The survey describes rail freight reported by operators; it does not cover every transport mode or represent all goods moving through the Canadian economy.

The year-over-year increase in total tonnage was attributed mainly to domestic non-intermodal loadings and traffic connected with U.S. railways. Domestic non-intermodal freight rose 1.9% to 24.8 million tonnes. This category primarily covers commodities moved outside intermodal containers, which are counted separately. It would be misleading to add rounded components and present the result as an exact reconstruction of the total. The published total and its subgroups should be read within their own definitions and rounding precision rather than treated as perfectly additive figures.

Grain shipments were a major part of the increase. Canola loadings rose 64.4% from a year earlier, adding 361,000 tonnes—the largest tonnage increase in more than a year and a half. Wheat loadings were up 16.0%, or 334,000 tonnes, the largest annual tonnage increase since November 2025 and a fourth consecutive monthly year-over-year gain. Animal feed and products rose 51.1%, adding 230,000 tonnes. These figures refer to rail loadings in July; they are not measures of crop production, export receipts or prices received by farmers.

The same release cited July year-over-year export increases of 148.5% for canola and 7.4% for wheat. Their simultaneous movement gives trade context but does not by itself establish that railway shipments caused the export changes. Statistics Canada said grain traffic remained strong amid elevated stocks of principal field crops and strong global demand. That is the agency’s interpretation; the release does not measure a particular route, buyer, freight rate or total farm income. Railway figures offer one lens on internal goods movement, rather than a complete account of agricultural commerce.

The growth was partly offset by declines in other commodities. Coal loadings fell 19.1% year over year, declining for a fifth straight month. Potash tonnage was down 16.1%, a third consecutive annual decline, while iron ores and concentrates fell 5.5%. Domestic intermodal freight was little changed at 3.2 million tonnes, 25,139 tonnes below the year-earlier level. The release noted delays to east-west movements amid wildfires but said container volumes remained strong. This mix shows why aggregate growth does not imply that every commodity or shipping segment expanded.

Freight loadings from connections with U.S. railways increased 11.1% to 3.8 million tonnes, marking a fifth consecutive year-over-year rise. The agency said the increase may partly reflect some traffic rerouted through American connections during wildfires in northern Ontario and British Columbia; this was presented as a possible explanation, not a quantified causal estimate. The Monthly Railway Carloadings Survey gathers rail-car, tonnage, unit and TEU information from for-hire freight operators in Canada. Cross-border-connected tonnage should not be confused with total exports or unique shipments.

The reported data are not seasonally adjusted and are revised monthly as new information arrives. July’s increase is a comparative observation about freight volume during that month; it does not measure network capacity, transit delays, freight prices, emissions or the supply-chain position of every producer. The five-year July average provides seasonal context but cannot alone establish a long-term structural trend. The commodity mix helps readers see the roles of agricultural freight and U.S.-connected traffic. Subsequent months will show whether these patterns continued, changed direction or reflected temporary timing and routing conditions.