Daily Grain Network Status – December 4, 2022 DEC 5 2022 | Producers | Blog Post
(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.
December 4, 2022: Report Synopsis
Loads on Wheels
A consistent decline in traffic volumes throughout the week last week pushed average daily loads on wheels below the prior week’s levels and to the lowest level seen in two months at 10,300 cars per day.
As was the case all week, CP was the driver of the reduction seen last week with loads on wheels declining 11% week over week while CN volumes rose slightly.
Cars Not Moving
System idle car counts saw slight improvement last week averaging 1,300 cars per day – the lowest level in six weeks.
Mixed performance across the two railways with CP seeing counts decline slightly while CN counts rose slightly.
Port Unloads
West coast unloads remained steady week over week averaging 1,206 cars per day with slightly better unloads at Vancouver and a small drop off at Prince Rupert.
Thunder Bay unloads improved last week averaging nearly 360 cars per day – the best week in the last two months.