Canadian Pacific announced on Nov. 22 that it would reopen its railway between Kamloops, B.C. and Vancouver by mid-day Tuesday, Nov. 23, while Canadian National Railroad Co. was expected to reopen its corridor to Vancouver on Wednesday, Nov. 24.
“I am extremely proud of the CP team,” said CP President and CEO Keith Creel. “Their extraordinary dedication, grit, and perseverance in the face of extremely challenging conditions are the reasons we are able to restore our vital rail network in only eight days. The following 10 days will be critical. As we move from response to recovery to full service resumption, our focus will be on working with customers to get the supply chain back in sync.”
CP said that some 30 locations across its Thompson and Cascade subdivisions were damaged, with 20 resulting in significant loss of infrastructure.
The Ag Transport Coalition told Bloomberg it may take two to four weeks for the normal flow of grain rail traffic to resume near the Port of Vancouver. More than 5,000 railcars carrying grain are estimated to be idled in the Vancouver corridor. The backlog in rail traffic far exceeds grain, with all commodity sectors impacted. Canpotex Ltd. earlier said it was looking to reroute potash exports to Oregon or New Brunswick (GM Nov. 19, p. 1).