Canadian National Railway says its plan to add more than 550 hopper cars should boost efficiencies in grain movement.
The hopper car additions are part of a larger rolling stock acquisition strategy that will see CN add more than 2,200 new freight cars to its fleet in 2012 as well as 1,300 new containers for grocery and consumer goods.
“CN is acquiring new freight cars and containers for a range of markets, including forest products, metals, minerals, coal, iron ore, steel, consumer goods, finished vehicles and grain,” said Jean-Jacques Ruest, CN’s executive vice-president and chief marketing officer.
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CN will also add 317 multi-level cars to transport finished automobiles, 232 ore cars for pelletized iron ore, 200 multi-purpose box cars, 300 gondolas for coal exports and 600 premium double-door box cars for forest products and metals.
The fleet expansion comes at a time when demand for rail service from the coal, oil and potash industries is showing signs of significant growth.
According to Statistics Canada, monthly rail car loadings of fuel oil and crude petroleum doubled between June 2011 and June 2012 from 4,549 cars to 9,128.
Non-intermodal traffic of all types rose 4.2 percent over the same period, with coal, fuel oil, crude petroleum, iron ore and concentrates accounting for the largest increases in tonnage.
CN also announced this month that it will spend $12 million to expand a locomotive service centre in Prince George, B.C.
The Prince George facility services CN locomotives as they move freight between Edmonton and port facilities in Prince Rupert, B.C.
CN investments in rail infrastructure in the Edmonton-Prince Rupert corridor have exceeded $150 million in the past eight years, company officials said.
Rail traffic destined for Prince Rupert has increased steadily.
In 2011, the port’s terminal operators handled 19.3 million tonnes of material, up from 16.4 million tonnes in 2010 and 12.2 million tonnes in 2009.
Between 2009 and 2010, annual exports of coal, coke and wood pellets at the Prince Rupert’ port’s Ridley Terminal nearly doubled, from 4.16 million tonnes in 2009 to 8.3 million tonnes the following year.
Prince Rupert is also the proposed site of a Canpotex potash terminal that could open as early as 2017.
