CN Rail investing $160 million in its Manitoba infrastructure

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This article was published 24/06/2022 (1505 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CN Rail is investing $160 million in its Manitoba infrastructure, replacing tracks, 10s of thousands of railroad ties and a dozen road crossing surfaces in 2022.

The company announced the Manitoba investment and roughly proportionate investments across the country.

Sean Finn, executive vice-president, corporate services, said, “We continue to make significant investments in our network, technology, and capacity. We are building the premier railroad of the 21st century to do even more for our customers, railroaders, shareholders, and the communities in which we operate. “

In addition to the Manitoba announcement, the Montreal-based railroad company also announced it intends to invest $390 million in British Columbia, $365 million in Alberta, $430 million in Ontario, $335 million in Quebec and $15 million in Nova Scotia this year.

While company officials declined to talk through the strategic importance of the investments the company said it includes investments in technology, capacity, rolling stock units and company-wide decarbonization initiatives.

CN’s investments across the country will address the same sorts of infrastructure improvement in every province as will be addressed in Manitoba including maintenance work on bridges, culverts, signal systems, and other track infrastructure.

The upgrade work was announced this week as the company is dealing with the strike by 750 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers over wages and benefits. IBEW members maintain the signal and communication systems for the railway.

The company has said normal rail operations will be able to continue safely as it has implemented an operational contingency plan.

The $160 million being invested in Manitoba is a little higher than its five-year average of $120 million per year, which may be partly due to the higher costs of materials caused by current inflationary pressures.

CN has about 2,140 employees in Manitoba, operates 1,384 kilometres of track and was responsible for $831 million of local spending here in 2021.

The following is the company’s spending and footprint in other provinces:

– British Columbia – five-year average of $360 million invested per year, 2,380 employees, 4,502 kilometres of track and local spending of $615 million in 2021;

– Alberta – five-year average of $280 million invested per year, 3,000 employees, 4,030 kilometres of track and local spending of $645 million in 2021;

– Ontario – five-year average of $280 million invested per year, 3,830 employees, 4,067 kilomtres of track and local spending of $2.3 billion in 2021.

– Quebec – five-year average of $440 million invested per year, 3,330 employees, 3,270 kilomtres of track and local spending of $1.7 billion in 2021.

– Nova Scotia – five-year average of $20 million invested per year, 270 employees, 259 kilomtres of track and local spending of $22 million in 2021.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca