Canadian Pacific Railway’s unionized conductors and engineers have voted to give themselves a trump card in talks with the company for a new contract. Eligible employees voted 93 per cent in favour of strike action “if necessary” to reach a negotiated settlement with the company, according to their union, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC). […] Read more
Strike vote passes for CP engineers, conductors
Prairie shippers’ group expands grain car tracking
A clutch of Prairie grain industry stakeholders says its pool of weekly data on rail car spotting is getting deeper and still shows significant shortfalls in car delivery from Canada’s big two railways. The Ag Transport Coalition on Tuesday released a performance measurement update, which it says now includes aggregate data from shippers representing about 85 […] Read more
Grain shippers’ data show ongoing rail supply/demand gap
Numbers newly crunched by a clutch of Canadian grain shippers paint a picture of a gap that’s wide, and getting wider, between the numbers of rail cars they say they need and what they say they’re getting. The Ag Transport Coalition — which so far includes eight Canadian grain-handling and crop commodity groups, working with […] Read more
CP books record profit, more grain revenue in 2014
Increased revenue from Canadian and U.S. grain traffic alike helped boost Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) to a record full-year profit in 2014. Calgary-based CP on Thursday reported net income of $1.476 billion on $6.62 billion for the year ending Dec. 31, up from $875 million on $6.133 billion in 2013. For its fourth quarter, the […] Read more
Court tosses CP’s appeal on U.S.-bound grain interswitching
Confirming that a deal is as good as a fixed asset, a Prairie grain handler gets to keep using a lower-price rail route from Alberta into Montana, now that a Federal Court ruling has shot down an appeal from the railway taking grain down to the border. Writing on Jan. 2, Judge J.D. Denis Pelletier […] Read more
CP to appeal federal fine on September grain handle
Citing post-Labour Day pains at the West Coast, Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) plans to appeal a $50,000 federal fine over the company’s Prairie grain handle. Transport Canada said last week it had issued notices of violation and administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) of $50,000 each against CP and Canadian National Railway (CN) for falling short of […] Read more
CN, CP face fines for summer grain handle
Both of Canada’s big two railways have been slapped with fines for missing the federal government’s mark this summer on weekly Prairie grain handling. A Transport Canada spokesperson confirmed by email Thursday that Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railway (CN, CP) have been served notices of violation including administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) of $100,000 and $50,000 […] Read more
Ottawa extends grain order
Minimum amounts will vary throughout the winter
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ottawa’s new order-in-council extends the mandatory minimum weekly grain handle until March 28. But instead of a flat 536,250 tonnes of grain per week for both CN and CP Rail, the amounts vary. Until, Dec. 20, each railway must move 345,000 tonnes per week. That drops to 200,000 tonnes weekly from Dec. 21 to Jan. 3, rises […] Read more
Mandatory minimum grain handle extended
A new order-in-council will extend the federal government’s mandatory minimum weekly grain handle for Canada’s big two railways through March, just as the previous order expires. Federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz on Saturday announced the mandatory minimums, which expired Saturday, are extended until March 28, 2015. The new order, however, adjusts the […] Read more
Rail engineers, conductors seek mediation with CP
With just over a month before their contract expires, rail engineers and conductors represented by the Teamsters Union want a mediator to restart “stalled” bargaining with Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) said Friday it has filed a mediation request with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). “The negotiations have […] Read more
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