Officials to discuss ways to put and keep grain in high gear to port

Todd Lewis, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, says the railways have calculated that 4,000 grain cars a week will be enough to handle the demand, although he notes that farmers hope to see even bigger numbers.

The roundtable meeting coincides with this week’s federal Liberal caucus meeting in Saskatoon.

“It’s to the point where we’ve heard enough,” said Fransoo, who farms in the Glaslyn area, about 200 km northwest of Saskatoon.

“They (the railways) just have to move our grain in a timely fashion … They can talk about their cars, their locomotives and the people they’ve hired but the proof is in the pudding.”

The federal government passed the Transportation Modernization Act in May to make railways accountable for poor service. It includes financial penalties for failure to deliver promised rail cars for grain shipments on time.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. said in June that it expects to have more than 500 new high-capacity grain hopper cars in service before the end of 2018.

The Calgary-based company placed an initial order for 1,000 cars from Hamilton-based National Steel Car and expected to order a total of about 5,900 of the grain hoppers over the next four years.

It also said that it plans to invest more than half a billion dollars as part of its commitment to the North American agricultural sector.

Rival Canadian National Railway Co. announced a similar order of 1,000 hopper cars in May, also from National Steel Car.

Both companies said their orders were facilitated by federal government changes that encourage railways to make investments to avert service disruptions. (CJWW, The Canadian Press)

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The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Officials to discuss ways to put and keep grain in high gear to port

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