Canada's railways have responded quickly, after receiving a letter this week from Canada's agriculture and transport ministers in regards to the current rail backlog situation.

“We apologize for not meeting the expectations of our grain customers, nor our own high standards,” said CN Rail Interim President and Chief Executive Officer JJ Ruest. “The entire CN team has a sense of urgency and is fully focused on getting it right for farmers and our grain customers, regaining the confidence of Canadian businesses, and protecting Canada’s reputation as a stable trade partner in world markets.

The company is directing additional people and equipment to clear backlogs across its network.

Steps being taken include:

- Offering incentives for key operating employees to delay retirement and postpone vacations, and for recently-retired operating employees to return to work
- Deploying qualified management employees to operate extra trains
- Adding train crews in Western Canada: about 250 conductors put in the field in last three months of 2017, with about 400 conductors coming into the field in the first three months of 2018, and an additional 375 from April to June
- Leasing 130 locomotives to increase capacity in Western Canada, almost all of which are now online
- Investing over $250 million this year to build new track and yard capacity in Western Canada to boost supply chain fluidity and build in capacity resiliency for future grain crops

CN says it delivered 4,577 empty hopper cars last week, up 35 percent from the February average of 3,400. The company notes all available hopper cars are in service and CN will show sequential weekly improvements progressing towards 5,000 per week by the end of March.

CP Rail says it is also adding both crews and locomotives to support volumes across all commodities and urges the Senate and government to move forward on Bill C-49.

"We have 550 new people, across all crafts, in various stages of the hiring process, 100 additional locomotives, which will start being integrated into the fleet this month and into the spring and summer, and we have earmarked between $1.35 billion and $1.5 billion in capital improvements this year that will further improve the flow of goods across North America," said Keith Creel, CP President and CEO.

 

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