It was one a pretty good year in 2010 for freight railroads.

Although freight volume trailed pre-recession 2008 figures, the nation’s major railroads reported a healthy 7.3 percent jump in carload traffic and a 14.2 percent increase in intermodal (trailers and containers on flat cars).

AAR officials called the 52-week figures “a positive development.”

Carload traffic remains about 10 percent below pre-recession levels, but its rate of growth continues to increase.