CN to Improve Service for Shippers Through New Intermodal Agreements

(DC Velocity – Toby Gooley)

Canadian National Railway (CN), the Montreal-based railroad that has worked in recent years to improve productivity and shorten transit times, is extending that approach to its seaport partners through a series of new “service level agreements.”

In addition to establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) and measurement tools, the agreements formalize the tracking, electronic sharing, and application of the resulting data, CN said.

The aim of the service agreements is to increase coordination among the railroad, ports, terminal operators, and ocean carriers, according to Jean-Jacques Ruest, CN’s chief marketing officer. Ruest delivered the keynote address at the recent American Association or Port Authorities (AAPA) 99th Annual Convention in Halifax, N.S. Some 700 port professionals from throughout the Western Hemisphere attended the event. Read more here.

Related: Let’s hope CN’s pact with Halifax port is a harbinger of improved service

CN Rail Stoppage Averted, Contract Agreement Reached

(Courtney Tower — BarCode Border)

CN Withdraws Work Rules Threat

A threatened strike or lockout in the Canadian National Railway system is off. Late Friday, a tentative three-year collective agreement was reached with 2,700 operating employees, who still must vote to ratify it.

After a week of last-ditch negotiations in Montreal, CN withdrew demands to eliminate two sets of jobs and from its announced plan to impose new work rules on the workers starting Monday. Contract talks had broken off last spring in what a federal conciliation commissioner, in a scathing report blaming both sides, called an atmosphere of “dysfunctional” relations.

CN briefly announced Friday night that it “will have labor stability with this group for the next three years,” but gave no details. However, Bryan Boechler, a spokesman for Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, representing the conductors, trainmen and switching yard workers, told The Bar-Code Border that CN's imposition of new work rules was “off the table.” CN President Claude Mongeau had written to all these employees with this threat if the union would not agree to a new contract.

Read more at The Bar-Code Border.

Port Authority, CN Sign Pact to Boost Efficiency, Move More Cargo

(Montreal Gazette)

The Montreal Port Authority and Canadian National Railway Co. said Monday they have signed a framework pact aimed at raising the port’s efficiency and boosting its share of cargo shipped between Europe and Ontario and the U.S. Midwest. CN will benefit by carrying more cargo onwards. Read more here.

CN Rail, Union Seek Arbitration After Talks Fail

(Cargonews Asia)

Canadian National Railway and the union representing 1,700 locomotive engineers will submit unresolved wage and benefits issues to binding arbitration after talks failed to yield a deal, Reuters reported.

Canada’s largest railway resumed labour talks with the Teamsters union on December 3 after a brief strike. The company and union had agreed to put outstanding issues to binding arbitration if no agreement was reached.

CN said talks ended on Saturday without a settlement. “The federal minister of labour will now appoint an arbitrator, who will have 90 days following his or her appointment to report to the minister with a final decision on a new collective agreement,” the company said in a statement. “Nothing precludes CN or the (union) from agreeing to further negotiations once the arbitration process starts.”

The railway said no further strike action is permitted under the dispute resolution mechanism, nor can CN lock out the union.

CN Ramps Up After Strike Ends

(Journal of Commerce Online – John D. Boyd)

Railroad acts quickly to resume normal operations

Canadian National Railway was ramping its operations back up December 3 following a five-day strike by locomotive engineers, but it was not clear how long it would take Canada’s largest railroad to get back to full service. Industry sources had said during the strike that it would take at least several days to get all crews back on regular schedules and get train traffic back to a pre-strike pace. Read more here.

Canadian Rail Chief Sees Freight Recovery; ‘Confidence Issue’

(NASDAQ – Ann Keeton, Dow Jones Newswires)

Canadian National Railway Co. (CNI) is seeing steady monthly increases in business of 3% to 4%, causing Chief Executive Hunter Harrison to turn bullish for a gradual recovery for rail freight hauling. Still, he said, “I think it’s a confidence issue,” he told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview, adding that fear of spending and investing could derail a recovery.

The head of the Montreal-based railroad company spoke Monday at a transportation symposium at Northwestern University. As railroads recover from a 20% downturn, they need to plan in the long term for adding capacity, he said.

Expansion from adding track likely won’t happen, because that’s too costly, he said. But railroads could become more efficient through mergers, Harrison said. As well, railroads should consider “open access” for some markets, where customers could decide with which freight hauler they want to work. That railroad would pay fees for access to a competitor’s track. Read more here.

CN Found in Breach of Service to Grain Shippers

(Today’s Trucking)

Four out of six grain shippers have been vindicated in their cases against CN Railway, which they claim has not been providing a adequate and reasonable level of service for the movement of Western grain for crop in 2007 and 2008.

The Canadian Transportation Agency ruled that CN did not fail to meet its obligations under the Canada Transportation Act for services to Canadian Wheat Board and Providence Grain Group Inc.

However, the CTA did side with North East Terminal Ltd., Paterson Grain, Parrish and Heimbecker Limited, and North West Terminal Ltd. in similar complaints.

“Our grain terminals are now struggling to get rail cars when we need them for our markets because CN’s program requirements have been so rigid and unworkable for us,” said GNP Transportation & Logistics manager Perry Pellerin. “As a result, none but the largest grain handlers with multiple elevators could fit within CN’s service model, which strongly favored those who can ship in large rail car blocks, week after week, to a single destination.”

In its ruling, the quasi-judicial agency determined that a performance benchmark should be applied as a basis for determining whether CN is providing the shippers proper levels of service, including the confirmation of the number of rail cars requested by the shipper, as the timeliness and predictability of railcar delivery. Read more here.

Canadian National Expands Network

(Cargonews Asia)

Canadian National Railway (CN) has inked a deal with the city of Joliet regarding CN's proposed acquisition of the major portion of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E).

The agreement resolves the concerns the city had related to quiet zones, operations, and communications surrounding the transaction.

The conditions of the negotiations are contingent upon approval of CN's proposal to acquire control of the EJ&E, which is being considered by the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB).

As stated in STB's draft environmental impact statement, the board has encouraged voluntary agreements between CN and communities.

CN has been actively engaged in the environmental review process and will participate in the public hearings later in the year.

Ottawa Orders CN Rail to Remove 12,000 Wheels

(The Canadian Press/AFP)

The federal government has ordered CN Rail to find and remove potentially faulty wheels from its trains.

The emergency safety directive from Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon comes after the Transportation Safety Board warned thousands of wheel sets could cause derailments. Since 2000, 15 derailments due to loose wheels have been reported in Canada, and at least two in the United States, Canada’s TSB said.

The potentially faulty wheel sets were assembled at a Canadian National’s Transcona wheel shop between April 1, 1998, and February 28, 2001. Of the 43,000 sets made in that period, up to 12,000 may remain in service in North America on some Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian National Railway and U.S. freight cars.

The Transport Department says the October 15 deadline gives CN the time needed to track all the wheels on train cars throughout Canada. In issuing the order, Cannon said he wants to prevent any future derailments related to faulty wheels.