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On Friday, Canadian Pacific announced plans to invest $100 million in North Dakota between the beginning of 2011 and 2012 to add network capacity, enhance service and expand resources.

Current-year infrastructure projects will begin in the spring, with a majority of the work to be completed in fall 2011. The overall investment calls for:
• hiring more than 70 new employees to expand the train crew base in 2011, increasing CP's North Dakota workforce by 18 percent;
• creating a new superintendent of operations territory focused on traffic between Enderlin and Portal;
• expanding capacity during the next two years on the Newtown, Portal and Carrington subdivisions, including yard track extensions in Max and Flaxton, and a new runaround track in Newtown;
• increasing the maintenance work budget for the Newtown subdivision to include the replacement of more than 17 miles of rail between Drake and Max, and upgrades to 41 grade crossings; and
• installing snow fences and completing grading projects to reduce snow drifts between Drake and Max.

“North Dakota is a source of growth for CP and the Midwest's economy with its increased grain production, vast oil deposits in the Bakken Formation and the continued strength of ethanol," said Jane O'Hagan, CP’s executive vice president of marketing and sales, and chief marketing officer, in a prepared statement. "CP has been a key part of North Dakota's economy for the past century [and] we look forward to providing service to our customers far into the future.”