Canadian Pacific carried a record-breaking 2.643 million tonnes of Canadian grain and grain products in April 2019.
The amount of grain transported by the company in that month is more than Ireland’s total cereal production for one year. Ireland came close to this amount in 2015 when total cereal production reached 2.63 million tonnes.
The transcontinental railway in Canada and the US has direct links with major ports on the west and east coasts.
Workload was close to the highest it has ever been in April with a total of 817 million gross tonne miles averaged in each day of the month.
The company stated that it puts the performance down to the strength of the precision scheduled railroading operating model and continuous communication and collaboration with customers.
High-capacity hopper cars
An investment in new infrastructure also contributed to the increase in product carried. The company plans to invest a half a billion dollars in its new hopper cars.
The Canadian Pacific supply chain model the company is working towards is capable of loading, transporting and unloading 8,500ft long, power-on, unit trains with a minimum of 134 hopper cars of export grain in Canada.
Although shorter than the countries own government hoppers more grain can be carried and loading and unloading is faster.