In an unusual public criticism, prairie grain handling companies have taken the railways to task for poor service.
Western Grain Elevator Association members say both national railways have failed for some time to deliver empty rail cars to country elevators in a timely manner.
The association said the railways are missing their delivery schedules 30 to 40 percent of the time, causing operational problems from the farmgate to the country elevator to the terminals.
When empty cars aren’t spotted as scheduled, companies may have to cancel delivery calls and send staff home, which costs the companies and farmers money.
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“It’s not as if we’re telling the railways what to do and then they’re failing to do it,” said WGEA executive director Wade Sobkowich.
“They tell us what they’re going to do and they still fail to do it.”
The problem has been festering for years, he said, but in recent weeks the grain companies grew so frustrated with the lack of action they decided to go public.
“We’ve been talking to CN and CP on an ongoing basis and expressing our concerns and trying to bring it to a resolution, but they just haven’t been able to do that,” he said.
Sobkowich said the association is particularly upset with Canadian National Railway, saying the company has failed even to admit that there is a problem.
“The fact that CN doesn’t seem to acknowledge that they have service issues is concerning,” he said. “At least Canadian Pacific Railway said they understand our concern.”
After the WGEA made its complaints public in an April 5 press release, CN executive vice-president Ed Harris responded by rejecting criticism of its performance and saying it is doing a “solid job” of meeting shipping orders for grain.
“CNR is at a loss to understand WGEA’s statement,” Harris said in an April 7 News release
news, saying the railway has overcome winter-related service issues and is making grain available at terminals “consistently and reliably.”
In an interview, CN spokesperson Jim Feeny said the railway was surprised by the WGEA News release
news. He said it’s unfair to single out one player for blame in something as complex as the grain handling and transportation system.
He said for example empty cars may not get spotted to a country elevator on time because a vessel didn’t arrive at port and the cars weren’t unloaded on schedule.
“There are any number of things that can and do happen,” he said.
“We are often the visible part of the problem, but it’s a supply chain that is thousands of miles long and when a disruption occurs at any one point it’s going to affect other participants.”
Ed Greenberg of CP said the company takes the WGEA’s concerns seriously and will work with the grain companies to resolve problems within its control.
A spokesperson for the Canadian Wheat Board said the agency shares some of the WGEA’s concerns about railway performance and has discussed the issue directly with the rail companies.
“Car allocations are not where we’d like them to be and the current crop is not as large as it’s been in previous years,” said David Elias. “We’re questioning their ability to handle a larger crop in the future.”
