Canadian regulators propose more detailed requirements for reporting railroad performance metrics

Canadian Pacific and Canadian National trains pass

OTTAWA, Ontario – Class I railroads operating in Canada would be required to report additional performance and staffing metrics under a proposal Canadian regulators unveiled on Friday. Transport Canada’s move was announced on the same day that the Surface Transportation Board said it will temporarily require the big railroads to provide more detailed operational and […]

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Track-repair error led to 2019 CN oil-train derailment

Diagram of derailment site in Canada showing location of tank cars and site of oil spill

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — A track-repair error led to a rail-joint failure, causing a 2019 derailment of a Canadian National oil train, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in its summary of a report released Friday. The Feb. 16, 2019, accident near St-Lazare, Man., led to the derailment of 37 cars of a 110-car crude […]

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New CEO spells out priorities for Canadian National

Woman in black suit and white blouse standing near windows in high-rise

MONTREAL — New CEO Tracy Robinson likes what she sees at Canadian National. “As I sit here, 60 days in … I can tell you that I’m more excited about our prospects than when I first arrived,” Robinson told investors and analysts on the railway’s earnings call this week. “At CN, we have an incredible […]

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STB settles CP-KCS merger traffic data issue

Maroon, gray and yellow locomotive leading train

WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have ordered Canadian Pacific to resubmit specific traffic density data that will be used as part of its Kansas City Southern merger application. The Surface Transportation Board’s decision, issued on Wednesday, keeps review of the first Class I railroad merger in two decades on hold. CP must submit new baseline traffic density […]

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Outgoing CN CEO Ruest received major bonus in 2021

JJ Ruest

MONTREAL — Canadian National executives including now-departed CEO JJ Ruest received significant bonuses last year for the first time since 2018, the Globe and Mail reports. Ruest, who stepped down in January, received a $2.32 million bonus in 2021 as part of overall compensation totaling $13.55 million. A year earlier, his bonus had been $313,334. […]

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CN raises new train count data issues around CP-KCS merger

gray and blue passenger train passes next to red locomotive pulling freight train

WASHINGTON — Canadian National claims it has found additional train count inconsistencies in the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger application and related environmental filings. The Surface Transportation Board last month put review of the CP-KCS merger on hold until discrepancies in train density data could be sorted out. CP has provided the board with clarification […]

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County expresses support for CN double-track project in Illinois

Cab car leads commuter train as it stops at station

WAUKEGAN, Ill. — Support is building for a Canadian National double-track project in Northern Illinois, with the Lake County Board joining Metra and three communities in endorsing the plan. The Daily Herald reports the proposal to add 2.2 miles of second track between Round Lake Beach and Grayslake, on a CN line shared with Metra’s […]

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April rail traffic declines slightly from year ago

AAR traffic data chart for week ending April 9

WASHINGTON — U.S. weekly rail traffic for April remains slightly below 2021 levels in the latest statistics released by the Association of American Railroads. U.S. rail traffic for the week ending April 9, 2022, was 508,343 carloads and intermodal units, down 1% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending […]

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Ontario short line keeps GM traffic moving after CN snafu

The Ontario Southland Railway helped keep General Motors plants humming when a bridge clearance issue arose after a track project on Canadian National. CN, which handles the majority of traffic in St. Thomas, Ontario, suffered a line outage on the Talbot Spur when a program to fix track in the St. Thomas yard resulted in […]

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News photo: CN’s new CEO hits the rails

Passenger train passes station

WOODSTOCK, Ontario — A Canadian National executive special carrying new CEO Tracy Robinson and other managers passes through Woodstock, Ontario, this morning (Thursday, April 7). The train with two locomotives and four business cars is en route from Brampton Intermodal Terminal, near Toronto, to Chicago. It is expected to pass through Michigan and arrive in […]

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CN to work with Port of Montreal on new container terminal

Canadian National logo

MONTREAL — The Montreal Port Authority and Canadian National will work together to develop rail facilities at the port’s new Contrecœur container terminal, the port and railroad have announced. Along with the private firm that will build and operate the terminal, the railroad and port develop the technical aspects of the intermodal facility. A CN […]

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