Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) have drafted a new routing protocol to cut congestion at points where freight traffic shifts from one company’s track to the other.
The two railways announced Thursday in a joint release that their plan will direct flows of interline traffic through the “most fluid, efficient” interchange sites and will in some cases route traffic away from more congested spots.
More traffic can now be expected at 14 interline gateways across North America, including Montreal (St. Luc), Winnipeg (Paddington) and Milwaukee, CN and CPR said.
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Meanwhile, 15 other such gateways, including Calgary, Chicago, Minneapolis and several locations in southern Ontario can expect to see “lesser volumes” of interline traffic, the two companies added.
“This will benefit our customers and effectively generate increased rail capacity to accommodate traffic growth,” said CPR CEO Fred Green.
For instance, both CN and CPR reported noteworthy increases in their grain traffic in their most recent quarterly financial reports.
With this agreement in place, CN has routing protocols with six Class 1 railways on this continent, while CPR has similar agreements with three, the companies noted.
