Grain export carloads saw the biggest increase in September, as was expected with the start of the grain harvest season. Total grain carloads rose 75% from August.
Total train volume westbound to the Port of Vancouver increased 14.1% in September compared to August. The biggest gain came from Grain trains, which jumped 65.2% from 46 trains in August to 76 trains in September.
The total average daily volume headed eastbound from the Western Canada ports was down 15.6% in September compared to August. Compared to earlier in the year when CPKC moved about one third of international intermodal containers from the western ports, CPKC moved 42% in September.
Total southbound traffic from Canada in August was 130,216 carloads. This is a 7.1% increase over July.
Overall traffic moving into the western ports region increased in August, going from 118,477 carloads moving to the ports in July to 131,338 carloads, an increase of 10.9%. Daily average volume in August was 4,378 carloads per day.
August saw 67,233 containers enter through the Port of Vancouver. This is a 55.0% increase over July, which had much lower volumes stemming from the work shutdown at the western Canada ports. Average daily volume was 2,201 containers per day, which is the highest daily volume since last September.
RailState has looked in more detail at how CN and CPKC handled the August 18 traffic interruption in the Fraser River Canyon Directional Running Zone caused by the Kookipi Creek Fire.
Flooding Halts Rail Traffic in Southern California, Wildfires Stop Trains in British Columbia
In the month since the end of the main strike period, the railroads are close to matching volumes seen before the strike. There has not been a significant, widespread increase in train volume aimed at clearing backlogs caused by the strike.
Glen Doiron joins RailState as Solutions Architect. Glen comes to RailState with a unique combination of shipper, class 1 railway, business analytics, and SaaS product experience.
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