Daily Grain Network Status – February 12, 2023 FEB 13 2023 | 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.
February 12, 2023: Report Synopsis
Loads on Wheels
A surge in traffic at the end of the week last week, rising to more than 9,600 cars on Saturday, pushed average daily system loads on wheels above 8,900 cars per day – modestly higher than the prior week.
CP was the principal driver of the increase seen last week with traffic volumes rising 11% week over week while CN rose only slightly.
Cars Not Moving
A week over week increase seen for system idle car counts last week averaging more than 1,500 cars per day.
CP, the principal driver of the increase with counts rising nearly 25% – largely a reflection of the disruption in the MacDonnald Tunnel on CP’s mainline west of Golden, B.C.
Port Unloads
West coast unloads averaging less than 1,000 cars per day last week for the first time in five weeks (945) with a second week of decline seen at Vancouver.
The decline at Vancouver was at least in part a reflection of constraints on arriving traffic resulting from the CP disruption.