It depends on the type of traffic and the part of the country.
On the Norfolk Southern line through my home town in North
Carolina, traffic is up distinctly over last year. In fact,
with a maintenance blitz in progress, requiring a number of
work trains at the same time, I have gotten the impression
that NS is having problems finding enough units for some
trains. At one time, NS had lots of freight cars in storage
in various sidings in eastern NC. These cars have all been
gone for several months now.

Even in better times (economically) I have encountered times
where there were no trains for several hours -- when, during
the same time of day a day earlier or later, I encountered
several trains per hour.

-- Ernest