Reading Time: < 1 minute Toronto | Reuters — Regulator Transport Canada has issued a notice to Canadian National Railway (CN) requesting a plan to ensure safety along its main line’s Ruel subdivision, where three trains derailed in fewer than 30 days in February and March, the railway said Wednesday. The notice, given on March 12 but not previously reported, was […] Read more
Transport Canada seeks CN safety plan after derailments
CN says harsh winter one reason for spike in 2014 accidents
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ottawa | Reuters — An unusually harsh winter is one of the reasons Canadian National Railway (CN) suffered a sharp increase in the number of train accidents in 2014, a top official said Tuesday. Chief operating officer Jim Vena told a committee of federal legislators that deep cold can cause rails and wheels to crack. […] Read more
CN shopcraft staff ratify labour deal
Reading Time: 2 minutes Updated, March 18 — Unionized rail car and locomotive repair, maintenance and inspection staff at Canadian National Railway (CN) have approved the 11th-hour deal that kept them from being locked out last month. CN, in a release Tuesday, said members of its shopcraft group of about 2,100 employees, represented by Unifor Local 100R, have voted […] Read more
Four Unifor locals ratify deals with CN
Reading Time: 2 minutes Four of five groups of Canadian National Railway (CN) employees have voted to ratify the new collective labour deals that kept them from being locked out last month. CN said Monday its unionized clerical/intermodal/fleet mechanic, CNTL and excavator-operator units, all represented by Unifor locals, have all voted in favour of agreements with 51-month terms. The […] Read more
Railways can’t dictate terms on grain backlog, Harper says
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway have such huge market power that they cannot be allowed to dictate how Canada’s grain shipment backlog is cleared, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday. Harper said in an appearance in Saskatchewan that the grain backlog was not nearly as bad as it was a […] Read more
Prince Rupert to boost container handling capacity
Reading Time: 2 minutes Vancouver | Reuters — Maher Terminals Holding Corp. said Tuesday it would boost container-handling capacity by more than half at the Port of Prince Rupert, under an expansion of its container terminal at the northern British Columbia port. The Fairview Container terminal will be expanded to more than 1.3 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per […] Read more
CN building bypass around derailed oil cars
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters/Staff –– Canadian National Railway’s westbound and eastbound trains are taking wide detours around a derailed train on its main line in northern Ontario while the company builds a bypass for traffic near the crash site. The CN train carrying crude oil that derailed early Saturday near Gogama, Ont., about 100 km south of Timmins, […] Read more
Sask. backs new northeastern shortline
Reading Time: < 1 minute A Canadian National Railway (CN) spur line in northeastern Saskatchewan, set to become the province’s 14th shortline this spring, has picked up provincial financing. The provincial government on Wednesday announced an interest-free loan worth about $550,000 for Kinistino-based Northern Lights Railroad to buy 59 km of track from Melfort west to Birch Hills on CN’s […] Read more
Last-minute tentative deal averts lockout at CN
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian National Railway (CN) has pulled its lockout notice after reaching a tentative labour deal with its unionized mechanical and clerical staff. The company, which last week set a lockout deadline of 11 p.m. ET Monday for employees represented by Unifor, announced the agreement late Monday night. “We are very pleased that the company and […] Read more
Industry braces for impact as CN lockout deadline nears
Reading Time: 3 minutes Toronto | Reuters –– A looming lockout at Canada’s biggest railway threatens to delay imports from Asia and may compound a U.S. West Coast port logjam unless last-ditch contract talks succeed Monday. Canadian National Railway (CN) and Unifor, the union representing its 4,800 mechanical, clerical and trucking workers in Canada, resumed talks on Monday, hours […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
