(Regular 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 new grain network status report has been created to provide stakeholders with comprehensive insight on the performance of the Canadian rail system for the 2020-2021 grain year.  The report provides information and data on the status of the rail network as of midnight the previous day.

The railway performance data reported in these reports reflect the performance of rail shipments specifically for grain shippers participating in the Ag Transport Coalition’s railway performance measurement program – estimated to encompass approximately 90-95% of western Canadian originated grain shipments by rail.

January 4, 2021: Report Synopsis

Loads on Wheels

· Loads on wheels declined yesterday for the second straight day falling below 15,000 cars for the first time in 5 days.  Yesterday’s decline reflects lower volumes for each of CN and CP although both railways continue to have more than 7,000 loads on wheels on their respective networks.

Cars Not Moving

· The system count of idle cars increased notably yesterday returning above 5,800 cars on a system basis.  The increase reflects higher counts on each of CN and CP.  This increase returns idle car counts to nearly where they were late last week when counts peaked above 6,000 cars on a system basis driven in part by the New Year’s holiday on Friday.

Port Unloads

· West coast unloads (1,176) fell off from the prior day’s strong performance reflecting lower unloads at Vancouver and continued good unloads at Prince Rupert.  Thunder Bay unloads rebounded somewhat to 274 reported unloads yesterday.

* 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).All daily network status reports are available on the Pulse Canada website

For more information, go to www.agtransportcoalition.com