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BNSF, CP meet demands for freight service

Submitted Photo Canadian Pacific Railway officials said 2016 was “burdened with stiff economic headwinds and a challenging volume environment, the strength of the model was tested and proven.” The railway is looking ahead to a better year in 2017, including project work planned in North Dakota. Photo provided by CP Rail.

Major freight trains serving the Minot area faced a challenging economic environment last year but are looking forward to continuing to meet demands for freight service and future growth.

BNSF and Canadian Pacific Railway serve the area.

“BNSF Railway’s total volume across our network was down about 5 percent last year,” said Amy McBeth, Minneapolis, BNSF public relations director for this region.

“This decrease was attributable primarily to lower volumes of coal, industrial products (including crude oil), and international intermodal freight. While coal and our industrial products volumes will continue to ebb and flow, we don’t expect them to reach the peak levels we saw in the past.”

McBeth said BNSF expects this year to be better than 2016. “But how much and how quickly the freight environment will improve is unclear. Importantly for North Dakota, we moved record volumes of agricultural products in 2016 and we expect strong, steady ag movements throughout the year,” she said.

Submitted Photo BNSF officials expect this year to be better than 2016 but how much and how quickly the freight environment will improve is unclear, said Amy McBeth, a BNSF spokeswoman. Photo provided by BNSF.

Canadian Pacific Railway officials said 2016 was a year “burdened with stiff economic headwinds and a challenging volume environment, the strength of the model was tested and proven.” They said that railway company turned a challenging economic environment into a successful operating year – one that has us poised for 2017 and beyond,” according to the railway’s 2016 annual report.

Andy Cummings, a spokesman for Canadian Pacific Railway, said train volume through Minot is approximately 12 per day, which includes some oil shipments.

CP’s 2016 annual reports shows the company’s overall crude business represented about 7 percent of merchandise revenues, which is 2 percent of total freight revenues in 2016. “Crude moves from production facilities throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan, and North Dakota. CP has connections to these production facilities as well as access to pipeline terminals. CP’s main crude destinations include terminals and refineries in the U.S. East Coast, Gulf Coast and West Coast on CP’s network and through established interline partnerships,” the report said.

CP moves numerous other products for customers as well.

The railroads are a major provider of services to customers.

“BNSF provides a transportation service to our customers; we move what they want, when and where they want it to go as markets demand,” McBeth said. “When looking at our overall volumes on our network (not just volumes in N.D.), crude oil volume has never made up more than about 5 percent of our total volumes, and it would be less than that now with the decreased volumes I noted.”

She said the weekly and monthly reports of the Association of American Railroads tracks carload volumes for all U.S. railroads can be seen at www.aar.org.

Both railroads have either called furloughed employees back to work or are adding employees.

“We did have employees furloughed in Minot, but began calling some back in the fall. Last month (February) the remaining furloughed employees were called back,” McBeth said.

Cummings said CP intends to fill 15 conductor positions in Harvey and 12 in Enderlin in the first half of this year.

The railroads are continuing to invest money in North Dakota for capital improvements and/or maintenance projects.

“Since 2013, BNSF has invested more than $1 billion in North Dakota expanding our capacity and maintaining our rail network so we can operate safely and reliably,” McBeth said. “Given the success we’ve had in prior years adding capacity to support our customers’ freight demands, our capital plans in North Dakota last year and for this year focus primarily on maintenance projects. In 2017, we plan to invest another $80 million in our railroad network in North Dakota. This involves projects like replacing ties and relaying rail in areas throughout the state.”

CP also has projects planned for North Dakota.

“We do have some project work in North Dakota this year,” Cummings said. “Over the past few years, we have been extending a signaling and train control system known as Centralized Traffic Control across our North Dakota main line, and the final phase of this will be complete this year. Signals yet to be cut in extend from roughly Fessenden to Rogers; the rest of our route across the state is already in operation. This system improves efficiency by giving remotely located train dispatchers control of signals and switches. It is also capable of detecting some defects in rails, making operations safer.

“The other local projects this year are both at Portal, where we cross the border into Saskatchewan. We will be extending the passing track at Portal, and concurrently, adding a pad and machine so we can remove individual containers from intermodal trains. This should reduce delays to container shipments as a result of the customs process,” Cummings said.

McBeth said as more pipelines come online, the market will determine whether crude oil moves by pipeline or rail.

“Rail’s service flexibility will continue to offer value to North Dakota’s petroleum producers and we expect Bakken crude to be among the many commodities we haul in North Dakota. We will continue to invest in our network in the state to serve all customers and meet their current demands for freight service and their future growth,” she said.

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