The company reported 23,088 carloads during the month, which was also a new February record. The company moved 2.395 million tonnes of grain in January 2026 with 24,688 carloads — both monthly records for January.

“This is the second straight monthly Canadian grain record and it continues a strong start to 2026 as our railroaders work safely and efficiently with our supply chain collaborators to move a record grain crop across Western Canada,” said Elizabeth Hucker, CPKC vice-president of sales and marketing bulk, in the news release.

CPKC transported more than 17.1 MMT of Canadian grain and grain products through the first 30 weeks of the 2025/26 marketing year, hitting the largest totals since the record setting 2020/21 crop year.

The volume of Canadian grain and grain products moving on CPKC tracks have exceeded the average supply chain capacity targets outlined in the company’s annual grain service plan in multiple weeks in 2025/26.

CPKC said it was “critical that all supply chain participants, including customer loading facilities and terminal operators loading grain into vessels at ports, operate at full capacity to sustain this strong momentum.”

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A record volume of intermodal traffic — mainly containers — also buoyed freight volumes.

Canadian railways moved 376.6 million tonnes of freight in 2025, down 0.2 per cent from 2024.

”A bumper 2025 harvest and strong global demand meant that grain shipments by rail remained strong throughout the year,” StatCan said.

• Carloadings of wheat increased by double digits, year-over-year each month from January to November, except for February.
• Annual carloadings of wheat rose by 14.3 per cent or 3.9 million tonnes to reach 31.1 million tonnes in 2025.
• Other cereal grains loadings also saw substantial growth in January — up 103.9 per cent — and September — up 72.7 per cent.
• Total loadings of cereals grew by 23.4 per cent to 7.8 million tonnes in 2025 — the largest increase since 2018.
• Carloadings of canola fell by 12.4 per cent to 8.8 million tonnes in 2025. StatCan attributed this to trade tensions with China.
• Freight loadings from U.S. rail connections saw significant double-digit year-over-year decreases for much of 2025.
• Annual tonnage fell by 13.3 per cent compared to 2024 at 39.3 million tonnes. That’s the lowest annual level since 2020.
• In 2023 and 2024, freight traffic from U.S. rail connections to Canada represented an average of 12 per cent of total rail tonnage per month. In 2025, the average share ranged by quarter between 10.0 per cent and 10.7 per cent.
• Loadings of fuel oils, crude petroleum and lumber fell sharply over the year. Coal shipments rose.

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Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern submitted a nearly 7,000‑page merger application to the board in December, kicking off a regulatory review of what would be one of the rail industry’s most significant transactions in decades.

The $85 billion deal (C$117.9 billion), announced in July, is aimed at speeding shipments by reducing handoffs and delays and would create the first U.S. coast-to-coast railroad. The proposal has drawn criticism from labor unions and rival railroads.

CN said the applicants did not fully detail their assessment of the merger’s competitive impact, citing incomplete market analyses, missing required market-share projections and other gaps in the filing.

“Given the scale and stakes of the proposed combination, the applicants must meet the highest standard of transparency and compliance,” Canadian National said.

“Rather than trying to convince everyone that there is ‘nothing to see here’, the applicants should instead be focused on meeting the rigorous and heightened standard called for by the new merger rules,” it added.

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The review is expected to face intense scrutiny from the Surface Transportation Board and could take 12 to 18 months, with the companies targeting an early-2027 close.

“While the application outlines compelling earnings and free cash flow under favorable outcomes, regulatory uncertainty is elevated,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Fadi Chamoun wrote in a note last week.

— Reporting by Abhinav Parmar in Bengaluru

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CPKC’s revenue entitlement was just over $1.06 billion. It surpassed that by about $2.66 million. The company will be required to pay excess, plus a five per cent penalty, to the Western Grains Research Foundation.

Canadian National Railway Company (CN) did not exceed its revenue cap of about $1.46 billion. It posted a grains revenue of a bit more than $1.45 billion.

Railways’ maximum grain revenue entitlements are set based on volume-related composite price indices, which are based on historical input costs like labour, fuel and material.

Grain movement spike

Western Canadian grain movement rose by 12.1 per cent over the 2024-2025 crop year compared to the previous crop year, the transport agency said. Railways moved a bit more than 49 million tonnes compared to 43.7 million tonnes in the previous crop year.

The federal agency attributed this to an increase in shipments for both railways.

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Premiers Doug Ford and Danielle Smith signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) Monday in Calgary. The agreements are mostly focused on the exchange of energy and minerals, though they could also open new trade routes between Western and Eastern Canada.

Why it matters: U.S. tariffs and interprovincial trade barriers remain among the biggest barriers for trade stability and profitability in agriculture.

The agreements will “open new markets and create thousands of new jobs across Canada” and diversify trading partners, Ford said.

Smith said the MOUs are meant to advance pipelines and pathways for exports of energy and critical minerals to markets across Canada and the world.

“Through this agreement, we’ll work together to explore ways to improve network corridors that better connect our energy and critical minerals to markets here at home as well as around the globe.”

Smith said Alberta is seeking to add more rail lines to increase access to Ontario in areas like the Ring of Fire, refineries in southern ontario and a deep-water port in James Bay.

“Let’s get some icebreakers in there, maybe build out some additional rail and road infrastructure, and it could be a multi-purpose port, not just for oil … but also food, fibres, manufactured goods, critical minerals,” she said.

She said this would allow shipping not only to Canada’s East Coast but also to trade partners in Europe.

“Let’s work on that. And maybe I’ll sign another MOU with my friend Francois Legault (Premier of Quebec) at some later point to see if we can get further east.”

Ford said the MOUs between the two provinces are critical at a time when U.S. tariffs are still threatening trade in Canada.

“President Trump’s tariffs and the economic uncertainty they’ve created, they’re hurting workers and businesses in every part of our great country,” he said. “Steel makers and aluminum workers in Ontario and Quebec, fishermen and women in B.C. and Atlantic Canada, farmers across the Prairies, including right here in Alberta.”

“We’re doing this because we need to unlock the full potential of our economy. We need to tear down the barriers and red tape that have held us back for far, far too long,” he added. “This is how we make ourselves less reliant on the United States. This is how we secure the future of Canada.”

The two provinces will also launch a joint feasibility study to determine the best strategies, financing and endpoints for these projects.

Monday’s signings come as Ontario has made efforts to reduce trade barriers with other provinces, including last month’s agreement with Saskatchewan.

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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.

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.

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The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan had long advocated for the removal of the surcharges, saying they affected farm profitability.

Carbon surcharges were implemented to cover costs associated with emissions and fuel consumption.

Both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City eliminated the surcharges as of April 1 in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick after the federal government ended consumer carbon pricing.

“This is massive for farmers,” said APAS president Bill Prybylski in a news release. “Axing the surcharges puts more cash where it belongs, in our pockets and back into our rural communities.”

APAS said since 2019, Saskatchewan farmers paid about $200 million in the fees. It estimated that the bill in 2025 would have been $80 million.

“We’ve fought tirelessly for relief and seeing it finally come to an end is incredibly rewarding,” Prybylski said.

The move comes at a time of incredible trade uncertainty.

A CN notice to producers said the Low Carbon Fuel Standard is still in place in British Columbia and “will remain unchanged per the tariffs issued effective April 1, 2025.”

APAS said it remains concerned about that and whether it will increase shipping costs to B.C. ports. The organization is also advocating for transparency of how the federal Output-Based Pricing System, or industrial levy, impacts farm input costs.

CN said it would follow legislation closely and re-adjust if necessary.

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Unifor, which represents more than 3,000 members at the railroad’s Council 4000 and Local 100 committees, said the agreement includes improvements to wages and benefits as well as job protections for members working in CN terminals and headquarters across Canada.

The railroad earlier this month had reached a new tentative four-year collective agreement with the union. These new four-year agreements include three per cent wage increases annually, CN said in a statement.

“This agreement secures important gains that reflect the critical contributions of Unifor members to CN’s operations,” Unifor National President Lana Payne said in a statement.

“By working together with Unifor, we now have new agreements that strengthen our workforce and enhance our ability to serve customers reliably across North America,” said Tracy Robinson, CN’s president and chief executive officer in a statement today.

The ratification comes after Unifor members last month authorized a strike action if the parties failed to reach an agreement by Jan. 1.

The union had initiated negotiations with CN Rail in September, with bargaining priorities that included higher wages, addressing concerns about the pension plan and job security for its members.

— Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru. Additional reporting by Geralyn Wichers, Glacier FarmMedia.

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Employees represented by Unifor voted in late November to authorize a strike if a deal wasn’t reached by January 1. Workers called for improved compensation, job security and working conditions.

In a statement today, CN said it won’t release details of the agreement until the agreement is ratified. The current collective agreement expires on Dec. 31. The agreement affects some 3,300 employees, CN said.

“This agreement marks a significant step forward in securing improved conditions and protections for Unifor members at CN,” Unifor said in a statement to members.

Ratification votes will happen “in the coming weeks,” it added.

Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon praised the parties for reaching an agreement.

“Thank you to the parties for putting in the work to get a deal and to federal mediators for their support. Negotiated agreements are always the best way forward,” MacKinnon said in a post on X.

Earlier this year, CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City railways briefly ground to a halt after talks with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union broke down. The situation ended with the federal government mandating binding arbitration, which is scheduled to take place in 2025.

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Unifor, which represents more than 3,600 members at the railroad’s Council 4000 and Local 100 committees, said members voted “overwhelmingly” in favor of the strike action.

CN Rail did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Unifor, which represents CN Rail’s car technicians and heavy duty mechanics among other workers, said negotiations with the railroad will resume from Nov. 30 to Dec. 8 in Montreal.

The union had initiated negotiations with CN Rail in September, with bargaining priorities that included higher wages, addressing concerns about the pension plan and job security for its members.

— Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru

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