Canadian National Railway Plans Purchase of 1,000 Grain Hopper Cars
Canadian National Railway Co. plans to acquire 1,000 new-generation high-cube grain hopper cars over the next two years to rejuvenate the aging equipment needed to serve increasing annual crop yields, according to the Montreal-based railroad.
The new cars will allow the phase-out of Canadian National’s older, lower-capacity owned and leased fleet. The new cars will be 55-foot, 8-inch jumbo hopper cars with 5,431 cubic feet of capacity and will be built by National Steel Car Ltd. at the company’s Hamilton, Ontario, facility.
“This substantial investment in higher capacity payload hopper cars, with up to 10% more capacity than the older generation, demonstrates our commitment to safely, efficiently and reliably moving the steadily increasing prairie grain crop for our customers,” Canadian National Interim CEO JJ Ruest said. “We clearly understand how important having an effective grain supply chain is to our nation’s reputation as a stable trade partner.”
Canadian National also recently purchased 200 new GE locomotives, the first 60 of which will start to come online in June. Also this year, the railroad is acquiring 350 new lumber cars and leasing 350 new boxcars to boost its fleet serving the forest products and metals businesses.
