SASKATOON (Staff) — Rail car cycle times improved by about one percent in 1992, according to a study by the Grain Transportation Agency.
The agency says it took an average of 19.4 days for a rail car to be loaded with grain at a country elevator, travel to port and return empty to a country loading point. The year before the average was 19.6 days.
The length of the car cycle depends to a large extent on the type and volume of grain being moved. High volume commodities like wheat and barley have the lowest cycles, while special crops like peas and flax have the highest.
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That’s reflected in the figures for individual ports. At the West Coast, where large volumes of wheat, barley and canola predominate, cycle times improved to 19.2 days at Vancouver (down from 20.9 the year before) and 19.7 at Prince Rupert (20.4).
At Thunder Bay, where special crops requiring extra handling and car switching make up a larger portion of shipments, the cycle increased by 2.3 days to 19.6 days.
The numbers result from analyzing more than 250,000 individual rail car movements. Data for 1993 is still being collected.
