WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- U.S. rail delivery of petroleum and petroleum products was up 13.1 percent last week from the same period in 2013, the American Association of Railroads said. The AAR said Thursday 15,211 carloads of petroleum and petroleum products, or about 10.6 million barrels of oil, were delivered on the U.S. rail system for the week ending Jan. 25. That's a 13.1 percent increase from the same week in 2013 but a 3.1 percent decline from the previous week. Since Jan. 1, the AAR said, 58,767 carloads, or about 41 million barrels of oil, were delivered on the U.S. rail system, a 12.7 percent increase from the same period in 2013. Industry officials say the increase in U.S. crude oil production is outstripping the existing pipeline capacity, forcing some energy companies to turn to rail as an alternate transit option. New pipeline capacity came online last week when TransCanada started sending crude oil through its Gulf Coast project, a pipeline that has the capacity to send 700,000 barrels per day south from Cushing, Okla., to coastal refineries. The AAR's railcar count excludes deliveries from the Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Railway.