Canadian National Railway announced March 18 it will spend $245 million on Saskatchewan rail infrastructure this year.
Plans include construction of double track at four locations: 16 kilometres near Atwater, east of Melville; 16 km near Fenwood, west of Melville; 12 km near Biggar and 11 km near Clavet.
The company also intends to replace about 100 km of rail, install 260,000 new ties, and rebuild 21 road crossings as part of its maintenance program.
Doug Ryhorchuk, vice-president of CN’s western region, said the railway will exceed last year’s record spending on capital projects.
“Following a record capital program in 2018, CN brought on 25 percent more qualified train conductors in Western Canada and added over 10 percent more active high horse power locomotives to its network,” Ryhorchuk said in a news release. “This year CN is investing $35 million more than last year to bring greater capacity to CN’s mainline to benefit all commodities.”
Overall in 2019, the company will spend $3.9 billion on its capital program for a two-year total of $7.4 billion.
Contact karen.briere@producer.com
