advertisement

---

Yesterday, CN submitted a report to the Rail Freight Service Review Panel stating that its “customer-focused innovation and balanced accountability among transportation partners” are key to improving the effectiveness of Canada’s logistics supply chain. The panel was established in 2008 after the Canadian government decided to begin a review of rail service based on shipper and other rail-based logistics stakeholder concerns.

In its submission, CN officials said that “hard facts” compiled for the panel establish the quality of the Class I’s rail transportation product, most notably in terms of hub-to-hub transit time performance. However, CN is committed to doing a better job of partnering with its customers and is taking steps to further improve service by:

• strengthening first and last legs of traffic movements that are critical customer “touch points,” with measures such as improving empty car supply and customer ordering flexibility;
• re-designing its bulk service offering, with precision railroading innovations such as implementing a new scheduled grain transportation plan for western Canada;
• streamlining demurrage rules to address customer complaints about bunching and car placement outside switching windows; and
• engaging its customers with better communication and faster resolution of service issues through a new marketing organization and customer service function.

The Class I is urging the panel to adopt mediation measures rather than add regulation to the rail industry.

“Making further improvements to the logistics system does not require that more regulation be added to an already-robust Canadian regulatory regime,” said CN President and Chief Executive Officer Claude Mongeau in a prepared statement.

CN officials pointed to a study prepared for the panel by QGI Consulting Ltd. that examined the railroad’s fulfillment of shipper demand and transit times. The study found “no systemic market structure issues within the Canadian rail industry,” according to CN. The study also found no difference in rail service delivery, whether the customer is large or small; located on a main, secondary or short line; or whether the customer is served exluclusively by one carrier or has access to other rail providers.

In addition, the report concluded that the reliability of supply chains is not only influenced by railroads, but also by the performance of shippers and receivers, terminal operators, port authorities, truckers and steamship lines.