(Daily updates will be available on the Alberta Pulse Growers website.)

Pulse Canada and the CSCA are partners of the Ag Transport Coalition (ATC)*, which tracks performance of the Canadian railway network for the movement of grain.

A daily report has been created to provide stakeholders with insight on the performance of the Canadian rail system as it attempts to remain resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues recovering from a series of physical network disruptions in the months of January and February 2020.

March 25, 2020: Report Synopsis

Loads on Wheels

·  Traffic levels were down slightly on a system basis yesterday, reflecting a decline on CN and an increase on CP.

·  CP traffic levels, at more than 5,300 cars, reached their highest level in six weeks, reflecting principally higher volumes in the Vancouver and USA corridors.

Loads Not Moving

· Loads sitting idle for more than 48 hours declined for both CN and CP overnight, and have fallen below the 2,000-car threshold for the first time since late December.

· The overall reduction is due in large part to CN which, at less than 1,100 cars, has declined to its lowest levels since late December.

· CP continues to inch downward, having now reduced the levels of idle cars for the third consecutive day.

Port Performance

· West coast port unloads rose again yesterday, surpassing the 1,000-car threshold for the 11th time in the last 14 days, reflecting higher unloads at Vancouver and slightly lower unloads at Prince Rupert.

· Vessel line ups saw an improvement (-1) overnight at Vancouver while Prince Rupert was unchanged.

· With no scheduled arrivals at Prince Rupert over the next two weeks, and despite lower traffic volumes destined to the Port, it is expected that further improvement in this area is realistic; Vancouver continues to see a nice uptick in volumes destined to the Port over the last two days, now averaging more than 7,600 cars per day in this corridor — some 11% higher than last week.

All daily resiliency reports are available on the Pulse Canada website.

*The Ag Transportation Coalition is comprised of the Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA), Alberta Wheat Commission (AWC), Pulse Canada, Manitoba Pulse Growers Association (MPGA), Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA), Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission, Inland Terminal Association of Canada (ITAC) and the Canadian Special Crops Association (CSCA).

For more information, go to www.agtransportcoalition.com