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Canadian Pacific Railway June 5 announced plans to expand and improve intermodal facilities in Chicago, Toronto, and Calgary, Alberta — to the tune of $23.5 million.
The Class I in fall began preliminary work on the cornerstone of its plan, a $17 million, 55 percent capacity expansion of its Toronto-based Vaughan Intermodal Facility, which CPR expects to complete Aug. 31. The terminal is the largest — and busiest — of CPR’s 22 intermodal facilities.
The project includes building an empty marine-container depot and wheeled parking area with a separate entrance; reconfiguring the existing terminal’s layout to accommodate longer trains; constructing a 5,000-foot track for container loading and unloading; extending two tracks to 5,000 feet; building new working areas for container loading, unloading and storage; and installing two toplifters and one rubber-tire gantry crane.
"The Vaughan expansion will have a positive effect on our Obico Intermodal Facility in southwestern Toronto, [as] we will be able to shift some east-west traffic to Vaughan and free up capacity at Obico to attract new Canada-U.S. business — taking it off the overloaded trans-border highways," said Hugh MacDiarmid, CPR executive vice president, commercial, in a prepared statement.
CPR also plans to spend $5.2 million expanding the capacity of its three-year-old Calgary Intermodal Facility from 105,000 annual handlings to 150,000 annual handlings, and $1 million improving Chicago-based Bensenville Yard to speed the railroad’s handling of international marine containers originating from or destined for Europe and the Pacific Rim.
Intermodal traffic now represents CPR’s largest revenue-generating business segment, surpassing grain, coal and other bulk commodities. Between 1996 and 2000, CPR’s intermodal revenue increased 29 percent; intermodal traffic accounted for 23 percent of the Class I’s first-quarter 2001 revenue.