Railways ready to move more grain to market
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SASKATOON — Canadian Pacific (C-P) is assuring farmers that it is prepared to move this year’s Canadian grain crop to market.
In a news release put out after a roundtable session with the federal ministers of agriculture and transport on Wednesday, C-P says it will move the crop “in close collaboration with its customers and the broader supply chain.”
In order to do that, the railway set a target of moving 5,500 hopper cars of grain per week until the Port of Thunder Bay closes for the winter. After that, the target will be 4,000 cars per week.
As well, the company continues to develop its 8,500-foot train model in collaboration with customers that operate elevators and destination terminals handling the trains. The longer trains will be able to haul up to 20 percent more grain than the current 7,000-foot model, and up to 44 percent more grain per train when combined with the 5,900 new high-capacity hoppers, that are replacing the low-capacity fleet.
The improvements don’t end with the addition of new rail cars.
At the present time, CP has more than 700 employees in training and will have added more than 100 remanufactured locomotives to its fleet by the end of summer. The rail company also plans to spend more than $1.55 billion in capital investments in 2018, replacing depleted track assets and upgrading its network.
