Both Canadian railways have had a busy April, breaking corporate records for movement of grain to ports.
Canadian National Railway moved a record 2.81 million tonnes of grain for April, slightly ahead of CP Rail's record volume for the month. The country's largest railway says the movement included 2.73 million tonnes from Western Canada, which exceeded the three-year average of 2.55 million tonnes for April. he Montreal-based railway's all-time monthly record was 2.89 million tonnes of Canadian grain last October. For the first quarter, it transported 6.86 million tonnes of grain, including 6.59 million tonnes from Canadian western grain. Its best quarterly tonnage was 7.01 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2017. CN Rail has moved 21.55 million tonnes of grain from the 2019-2020 crop year, with 20.7 million tonnes coming from Western Canada.
Canadian Pacific Railway says it moved the most grain last month in the company's 139-year history. The Calgary-based railway transported 2.8 million tonnes of grain and grain products in April,100,000 tonnes more than the previous record set in November, thanks in part to the spring opening of the Port of Thunder Bay. CP Rail has moved 21.4 million tonnes of grain this year with record shipments in January, March and the first quarter. That's six per cent more than at the same point last year and eight per cent more than the previous three-year average. The railway says it foresees strong grain shipments for the remainder of the 2019-2020 crop year. CP's fleet of more than 2,500 new grain cars that can carry 15 per cent more volume and 10 per cent more weight is adding more than 1.1 tonnes of extra grain per railway car compared to the prior year.
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