CP on track to expand western Canada capacity by year's end (9/6/2005)

Canadian Pacific Railway is more than halfway toward completion of its $160 million Western Corridor expansion program. To date, the Class I has finished 70 percent of the construction work and 14 of the 25 projects planned between Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and the Port of Vancouver.

So far, the railroad has installed more than 3,000 tons of steel rail and more than 80,000 tons of ballast while constructing or extending sidings, laying double track, and installing staging tracks and track-to-track crossovers. CPR recently double-tracked a portion of a line east of Kamloops, near Clanwilliam and Pritchard.

After all projects are completed at year’s end, the Class I will operate four additional trains daily between the Prairies and port — a 12 percent capacity boost. The program is designed to expand capacity for bulk commodity moves to the port to meet rising Asian export demand.

Source: Progressive Railroading Daily News