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In the 2010-11 crop year, which ended July 31, CN’s grain car unloadings at Canadian West Coast ports reached near-record levels. Overall, the railroad moved more than 12.5 million tons of grain from the Prairies to export terminals in Vancouver and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, and Thunder Bay, Ontario.

The Class I moved more than 125,000 grain cars to export terminals at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert — the largest volume in 20 years, according to CN. Vancouver movements totaling 6.7 million tons were driven by record canola shipments of 3.9 million tons, while Prince Rupert shipments topped 4 million tons for the sixth-consecutive crop year, matching another record, railroad officials said in a prepared statement.

“This is the most canola CN has ever moved in one crop year,” said Vice President of Bulk Products Andy Gonta. “Alberta farmers planted record acres of canola last year, enjoyed strong yields and harvested a record crop.”

During the crop year, CN fully implemented a new scheduled grain service plan, which was launched in January 2010. The plan achieved an 81 percent success rate in delivering cars ordered to specific elevators on the scheduled day, CN officials said.

“We listened to what our customers were telling us, and learned some lessons about how to better collaborate across the entire grain supply chain," said Mike Cory, CN senior VP of operations-Western Region.

In the coming months, CN plans to build on the plan’s success, such as by more efficiently using assets across the entire supply chain, railroad officials said.

“We're working with our customers to ensure all available capacity is used effectively," said Cory.