Canadian Class I executives foresee crude-by-rail growth come springtime

Executives from both Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific (CP) said that they anticipate a boost in crude-by-rail traffic come springtime, Trains Magazine reports.
Both CN Chief Financial Officer Ghislain Houle and CP Chief Marketing Officer John Brooks presented Nov. 13 at the Scotiabank Transportation & Industrials Conference in Toronto and said their railroads would be readying for increased oil traffic when the spring arrives and the country’s grain shipping rail traffic winds down, the magazine reported.
A lack of pipeline capacity is restricting the amount of oil that can flow, and crude-by-rail traffic has ramped up to a level approaching the country’s 2014 peak of a rate of 140,000 carloads annually, the magazine reported.
Data from the Association of American Railroads show that petroleum product shipments are up by more than 30 percent for both Canadian Class I carriers.
The full article is available on the Trains Magazine website (subscription required).