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Yesterday, CN announced it reached an agreement with Ray-Mont Logistics to improve supply-chain efficiencies and customer service for specialty grains traffic.

The pact will help improve the flow of export specialty grains transshipped from rail car to terminals for bagging and bulk containerization at ports in Montreal and Vancouver, British Columbia, CN officials said in a prepared statement.

Under the agreement, Ray-Mont will operate its terminals seven days a week, and CN will provide switching services at the facilities daily and work with the grain company to ensure a more consistent supply of rail cars and containers. The two parties also agreed to monitor performance against specific indicators.

“Consistent, seven-day-a-week operations are important to efficient, productive supply chains … [and] the agreement with Ray-Mont will help drive improved export flows via key Canadian ports,” said CN Vice President of Corporate Marketing Doug MacDonald.

Meanwhile, CSX Corp. announced it recently released a new iPhone application called “ShipCSX” that’s designed to enable customers to track their shipments. The app provides customers with certain rail-car specifications, such as equipment dimensions and weights. Customers can retrieve up-to-date information about their shipments, including estimated times of arrivals and movement history, CSX officials said in a prepared statement.

Available for free through the iTunes store, the app currently is designed for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices. The Class I is working to add more functionality to the app, as well as an Android-compatible version, said Steve Watkins, CSX’s director of technology applications.