CN unveils WinterREADY plan

Canadian National

Canadian National says it has spent the past 12 months engaging customers in order to better position the railroad for success during the upcoming winter. The result is CN's WinterREADY Plan 2013-2014, which the railroad says adds resiliency to its network and improves communication flow.

CN describes four key tenets to the plan including investing to improve network capacity and resilience; proactively managing car supply and more efficiently managing the use of power; more winter equipment with better processes and additional people available, manned with a rigorous response plan.

CN’s route between Edmonton, BC, and Winnipeg, MB, has undergone CA$100 million (US$95.96 million) in capacity upgrades including increased yard capacity at Symington Yard, new sections of double-track, additional long sidings and significant work on CN’s Prairie Line, which runs parallel to the mainline and provides a detour route.

CN has also performed new switch upgrades with enhanced snow features, such as the “Ice Free Switch,” for Kirk Yard, Mac Yard and Symington Yard, increased the amount of snow fighting equipment across the network, added backup generators and added lifting equipment at key network locations.

For more information on CN’s winter preparedness and to obtain a WinterREADY checklist, visit www.cn.ca.