CN Rail is leasing 350 boxcars to keep pace with growing industrial demand from across North America.
The Montreal-headquartered carrier announced it will take possession of 50-foot, high-capacity plate F boxcars, equipped with 12-foot plug doors, by late summer. All the cars should be in service by year’s end.
“These additional boxcars, combined with our new locomotives, hundreds of new train crew members, and track expansion investments, will help give us the capacity and network resiliency we need for pulp, paper, and metals customers,” said Doug MacDonald, CN’s vice-president of bulk, in a statement.
CN said this is part of the $3.2 billion capital program to build new track and add yard capacity to handle increased traffic across CN’s West Coast to Chicago network.
About 400 conductors are being recruited to bolster CN’s workforce of 24,000, with an emphasis on bolstering crews in Western Canada.
