Canadian National (CN) Railway published its first annual public grain plan for the 2018-19 crop year to its website.
The plan outlines CN’s strategy to meet the anticipated volume of grain expected to be moved, in the upcoming crop year, through four main tenets:
- Purchasing 1,000 new hopper cars over two years
- Purchasing 200 new locomotives over three years
- Hiring 1,250 new conductors to be trained and working, prior to the winter of 2018/19
- Spending $3.5 billion on capital expenditures in 2018, including capacity improvements such as line upgrades and double-tracking
The plan and many of the expenditures are specific to its Canadian network. However, certain projects will also benefit its U.S. operations such as new tracks planned at the Manitoba yard, which will improve the efficient handling of railcars from the United States.
