CN: March grain haul recovered from early 2025's extreme temps

CN last month moved more than 2.85 million metric tonnes of grain from western Canada and 2.98 million metric tonnes nationally, establishing new monthly records, the Class I announced yesterday.

The performance is a direct result of collaboration with customers to recover from extreme cold weather experienced in western Canada in January and February, which required safety-related train length restrictions, CN officials said in a press release.

Train length restrictions are necessary during periods of extreme cold to ensure operational safety and adherence to Transport Canada regulations. When temperatures fall below -25°C (-13°F), train length must be reduced. Shorter trains mean more people and equipment are required to move to the same amount of goods, CN officials noted.

Train length restrictions were applied for an unprecedented number of consecutive days for much of January and the first three weeks of February, as western Canada faced unrelenting extreme cold weather, they said. As the weather has improved, CN’s traffic volumes have returned to normal. Under optimal conditions, the grain supply chain can support up to 7,800 cars per week (744,000 metric tonnes) outside of winter and up to 6,250 cars per week (595,000 metric tonnes) during winter.

Being able to achieve those capacity levels depends on factors, including balanced corridor flows, continuous operations at grain and export facilities and the absence of major disruptions such as extreme weather, labor issues or trade instability, CN officials said.