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CN recently acquired more than 1,000 new domestic containers to better serve manufacturers and distributors of food and consumer goods. About 80 percent of the containers can be heated for temperature-sensitive goods, with the remainder as standard dry containers.

CN plans to use 540 of the containers to renew its domestic container fleet and 520 to expand the fleet to nearly 6,000 units. The equipment factors into the Class I's domestic intermodal business, which is focused on providing truck-competitive, cost-effective service, CN officials said in a prepared statement.

“CN has established a growing business transporting temperature-sensitive goods in long-haul markets across Canada. Our continued investment in infrastructure will benefit the reliability of the supply chains of our grocery, consumer goods and manufacturing customers,” said Jean-Jacques Ruest, CN's executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

Meanwhile, an intermodal project in Washington state now can proceed since the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and Port of Vancouver USA have signed an agreement concerning a $10 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery II (TIGER II) grant. The USDOT had named the port as a TIGER II grant recipient in October 2010.

The federal dollars will help fund the West Vancouver Freight Access project, which is designed to create more freight-rail access and eliminate a chokepoint at the port. Work calls for improving freight-rail entry and exit points, and eliminating  a current switchback operation at a grade crossing through BNSF Railway Co.’s Vancouver Yard to alleviate congestion and prevent train collisions.

Safety — more specifically, chemical transportation safety, and chemical shippers' efforts to improve it — is the impetus behind Union Pacific Railroad's annual Pinnacle Awards. Yesterday, the Class I named 79 chemical companies as recipients of this year's awards. Launched in 1996, the Pinnacles recognize chemical shippers that implemented successful accident/release prevention and corrective plans, or achieved a rate of zero non-accidental releases for shipments of regulated hazardous materials.

From 2003 to 2010, non-accidental releases declined more than 16 percent on UP’s network, in part because of increased inspections by the railroad's haz-mat safety field personnel and customers adhering to award criteria, UP officials said in a prepared statement.