Canadian Transportation Agency announces railway price indices for 2025-2026 crop year

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Published: April 30, 2025

,

Photo: bobloblaw/Getty Images Plus

The Canadian Transportation Agency has set its volume-related composite price indices (VRCPI) for Canada’s national railways—key metrics used to determine the railways’ revenue caps for movement of Western Canadian grain.

The VRCPI for the Canadian National Railway is set at 1.9734, an increase of 1.72 per cent over last crop year. For Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway, the VRCPI is set to 1.9349, an increase of 3.11 per cent from the previous crop year, the CTA said in a news release on Wednesday.

The VRCPI is an inflation factor determined based historical price information for railway inputs like labour, fuel, material and “other capital items,” the CTA said. Future changes in railway price components are also factored in.

Read Also

Plaintiffs say that Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, causes cancer, and they developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other forms of the disease after using the weedkiller. Bayer has said decades of studies have shown Roundup and glyphosate are safe and do not cause cancer. Photo: File

Bayer’s proposed Roundup settlement faces first signs of pushback in court

Law firms representing nearly 20,000 people who sued Bayer over alleged injuries from its Roundup weedkiller urged a Missouri judge to delay reviewing the German company’s proposed US$7.25 billion nationwide settlement, arguing that rushing would violate the rights of cancer patients and their families.

The indices are used to determine the railways’ maximum revenue entitlements for movement of Western Canadian grain in the 2025-2026 crop year.

If the railways exceed their maximum revenue entitlement, they must pay the excess, plus a penalty, to the Western Grains Research Foundation.

In 2024, CPKC exceeded its revenue cap by a bit more than $1.8 million. CN did not exceed its maximum revenue entitlement.

About The Author

Geralyn Wichers

Geralyn Wichers

Digital editor, news and national affairs

Geralyn graduated from Red River College's Creative Communications program in 2019 and launched directly into agricultural journalism with the Manitoba Co-operator. Her enterprising, colourful reporting has earned awards such as the Dick Beamish award for current affairs feature writing and a Canadian Online Publishing Award, and in 2023 she represented Canada in the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists' Alltech Young Leaders Program. Geralyn is a co-host of the Armchair Anabaptist podcast, cat lover, and thrift store connoisseur.

explore

Stories from our other publications