advertisement

---

Yesterday, CN announced plans to construct five long sidings on its B.C. North Line this year as part of a multi-year program designed to expand capacity along its corridor between Edmonton, Alberta, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

In 2011, the railroad moved more than 500,000 carloads and intermodal units over the corridor; by 2015, traffic on the line could nearly double, CN officials said in a prepared statement.

Since 2004, the Class I has extended or constructed 21 sidings to handle 12,000-foot trains between Edmonton and Prince Rupert. The railroad also has installed new signaling and train control systems, completed several tunnel and bridge clearance projects, expanded yards in Smithers and Terrace, B.C., and lengthened a siding in Swan Landing, Alberta. By 2012’s end, capacity expansion along the corridor the past eight years will cost more than $150 million (in Canadian dollars), and more long sidings are expected to be built in the future, CN officials said.

“CN's sizable investments in rail infrastructure in northern B.C. and western Alberta are helping us accommodate growing import-export traffic moving between the Port of Prince Rupert, the B.C. interior, and major centers across CN's network in Canada and the United States,” said Keith Creel, CN’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. "The longer sidings increase the fluidity of operations in this major CN freight corridor and allow us to haul increased volumes in safer, more efficient trains equipped with distributed power technology.”

By more optimally matching motive power to train weight, distributed power locomotives enable CN to cut fuel consumption and reduce air emissions.