Latest news with #CanadianNational
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Via Rail strike possible for late June. Here's what it could mean
Approximately 2,500 Via Rail workers represented by Unifor have voted overwhelmingly (97.5 per cent) in favour of a strike mandate. This group includes staff in administration, customer service, on-board service, maintenance, call centres, mechanics, and other skilled trades. Negotiations between Via Rail and Unifor are ongoing, with conciliation talks scheduled to last until May 31. After that, there will be a federally mandated 21-day 'cooling-off' period. The earliest date a legal strike or lockout could occur is June 22. A strike is not imminent at the moment. The union is not obligated to strike upon being legally able to do so. Negotiations could continue, and an agreement could be reached before any job action is taken. The strike mandate simply gives the union the authority to call a strike if negotiations fail. Meanwhile, Via Rail is operating normally, with no disruptions reported as of May 26. Recent railway labour disputes involving freight railways (such as Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City) have caused service disruptions on some routes that Via Rail uses, particularly in Northern Ontario, but Via Rail has been able to maintain most of its intercity operations. The length of a potential Via Rail strike before service resumes would depend on how quickly Via Rail and the union can reach a new agreement. Historically, Canadian rail strikes have varied in duration — from as short as a few days to several weeks — depending on the complexity of negotiations and whether government intervention occurs. For example, a Canadian Pacific rail strike in 2022 lasted about 60 hours before a tentative deal was reached. If a strike did occur on or after June 22, there could be significant disruptions to Via Rail services, especially if no agreement is reached by then. All services could be suspended for the entire duration of the strike, and normal operations would resume only once a settlement is reached and it is safe to do so. A strike could last days, weeks, or longer if negotiations stall and no back-to-work legislation is introduced. So, a Via Rail strike could significantly impact an upcoming trip, depending on the timing and the route you plan to take. Via Rail does not provide alternate transportation if your train is cancelled. However, affected customers will be able to modify their reservations or obtain a full refund if their train is cancelled due to a strike. Via typically contacts affected passengers directly if a work stoppage is confirmed and provides information about refunds and changes. Passengers are advised to check their email or Via Rail's Train-Alert service for the latest updates. For any questions or if you need to modify your reservation, contact Via Rail directly at 1-888-VIA-RAIL (1-888-842-7245). Via Rail ridership still well below pre-pandemic levels as losses mount and trains face retirement More travel chaos: Via Rail receives strike notice, warns service may be suspended Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CN continues work to expand capacity and fluidity in Vancouver
Canadian National aims to squeeze as much capacity as possible out of the Port of Vancouver, where a combination of water, development and terrain make it difficult to physically expand. CN CEO Tracy Robinson says coordination is essential to getting the most out of the British Columbia port, which last year handled record tonnage and remains Canada's busiest port complex. CN (NYSE: CNI) operates nearly 70% of the trains in and out of Vancouver. 'And so this is important to us and it's important that it be fluid and effective,' Robinson told an investor conference last week. The railway has taken several steps to boost capacity in and around Vancouver in recent years, particularly on its main line that relies on the Second Narrows Rail Bridge to reach the North Shore of the Burrard Inlet. The North Shore handles more trade than any other Canadian port, with almost all freight handled by North Shore terminals moving via rail and the Second Narrows bridge. CN has upgraded the ventilation system in the 2.1-mile Thornton Tunnel under Burnaby, British Columbia, reducing the lag time between trains to under 10 minutes, down from 20 previously. It also has added a 19,000-foot passing siding that allows the staging of two trains close to the bridge, rather than at Thornton Yard. This allows CN to more quickly move trains through the tunnel when the lift bridge is accessible. The railway will gain the capacity to stage two additional trains bound for the Thornton Tunnel and Second Narrows Bridge when a new overpass is completed in 2027 in Burnaby. The overpass will allow the closure of the Holdom Avenue grade crossing, effectively extending the area where CN can hold traffic bound for the bridge. CN and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority say they are working together to improve efficiency, safety and capacity in the Burrard Inlet. The Active Vessel Traffic Management Program and Centralized Scheduling System provide the visibility necessary to coordinate vessel and train movements. Thanks to these port systems, CN can better anticipate when the bridge will need to be lifted for marine vessels and adjust its train movements accordingly. But Robinson says there's still room for improvement in coordinating operations with the port. The investments will continue. 'We're constructing a siding just outside Vancouver, and we've put one in Kamloops to just continually increase and ensure the fluidity … and capacity through that terminal,' Robinson said. CN has been emphasizing the growth potential of the Port of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a remote outpost 30 miles from the southern tip of Alaska that has land to spare and is hungry for development and the jobs that come with it. CN is the lone railway to serve Rupert. The railway still expects continued growth in Vancouver, however, despite the challenges posed by a major metropolitan area. 'Growth in Vancouver is a little bit more difficult. It's difficult to squeeze it out,' Robinson said. 'You've all been to Vancouver: It's a beautiful port, beautiful city, not a lot of room to move there.' CN works well with CPKC to coordinate operations in Vancouver and the adjacent Directional Running Zone, Robinson says, and that will continue. 'The growth there, I think it looks a little bit different than Rupert. I think it'll be step function [large] at Rupert. It'll be inches at Vancouver,' Robinson said. But she says the railways can only do so much by themselves to improve capacity and fluidity at Vancouver. 'Railroads are one part of a much bigger supply chain. And so for the supply chain to work effectively, all the pieces have to work effectively,' Robinson said. 'And although all of our instinct is to optimize our piece, really it only works when it optimizes the whole.' Vancouver is the best example of how coordination improves the flow of freight, Robinson says. 'A couple of years ago we did a very focused piece of work on grain because of course when the grain supply chain gets clogged up, everyone turns and points to the railroads,' said Robinson, who grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan. 'But we got together with the port and the grain companies and said, 'Let's just monitor it … to find out where the bottlenecks are so that we can eliminate the bottlenecks,'' she said. 'And I came to the table and said, 'If it's our issue, we'll fix it. But if it's somebody else's issue, you've got to fix it as well.' And of course in that case we discovered that the biggest issue was the unloading in the rain.' If it's raining in Vancouver, grain terminals must stop loading bulk vessels, which can cascade into delays that reach all the way back to the prairies when CN is forced to hold grain trains at origin and stage them at Kamloops and other areas. Efforts are under way, she says, that will enable the terminals to load ships no matter the weather. Robinson spoke at the RBC Capital Markets Canadian Industrials Conference. The post CN continues work to expand capacity and fluidity in Vancouver appeared first on FreightWaves.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tariffs temper Canadian National outlook
Canadian National expects to haul slightly more rail freight in 2025 than a year ago, as President Donald Trump's tariff war tempers expectations for cross-border trade. 'There was a new Trump administration to start the year, so we thought there would be lots of uncertainty,' Chief Executive Tracy Robinson told the Bank of America industrials conference Tuesday in New York. 'We continue to be optimistic that trade deals are going to get done, as we saw over the weekend.' A third of the Montreal-based railroad's freight, including steel, grain and containers, originates in or goes to the United States. But that relationship has been upended by Trump's escalating tariffs — and his increasingly aggressive rhetoric. 'We haven't seen a big impact from tariffs so far,' Robinson said, or from fewer ships sailing from China prior to the tariff pause as ocean lines blanked scheduled services. Robinson affirmed CN's target of 10%-15% earnings-per-share growth this year, including profits that were 8% higher in Q1. 'The second quarter should also see growth in earnings, if not volume,' said Robinson, who joined CN as CEO in early 2022. 'There is always some uncertainty, and more so this year. The best way to manage that is to stay close to your customers. They are talking about access to different kinds of markets. We are seeing how quickly those blank sailings can be filled, talking with our customers about containers.' Like an airplane temporarily losing altitude, the company anticipates an 'air pocket' effect on China volumes by the end of May or beginning of June, the aftereffect of 145% tariffs that amounted to an embargo on Chinese imports. 'It depends where they are in the manufacturing cycle; it could be a couple of weeks or longer.' Along with U.S. cross-border freight, CN sees another third from international and the remaining third within Canada. 'Ten percent of our business is with China, and 2% between the U.S. and China,' Robinson said. 'The rest is within Canada. It's diversified, which we think is a benefit.' Robinson said the railroad is not expecting an economic lift to earnings this year. CN expects mid-3% volume growth for the year, one-third of that on easy comparisons related to a strike in 2024. A third will come from slightly positive industrial production, and half from CN-specific growth. CN claims a 50% market share in transporting grain, which Robinson termed 'very good,' in a positive crop year despite adverse weather in February. International volumes are up at the Port of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, where CN has a 65% share of containers from calls by Hapag-Lloyd as part of the liner's Gemini Cooperation with Maersk. Robinson sees Prince Rupert as an important driver of future growth. 'We have great partners in [terminal operator] DP World and Port of Prince Rupert [Authority]. They've got capacity there, currently running 50-50 with U.S. volumes, and offer on-time service, especially for U.S. destinations. We want it 70-30 U.S.' CN moved 3,000 carloads of plastic pellets into Prince Rupert in 2024 and expects that volume to grow. IntermodeX, a provider of intermodal services and division of container terminal operator SSA Marine, is developing a transload facility that connects directly to CN rails, and the port also handles export grain and coal. A natural gas facility is undergoing expansion as well. The railroad will continue to see quarter-to-quarter improvement in pricing, which Robinson said was ahead of plan in the first quarter. 'Pricing is above inflation for the year,' she said. The company has 24,500-25,000 employees, with about 550 currently furloughed. 'We're running tight [on costs]. Head count is week to week based on volumes we can see coming in. Overall, we are flattish year on year.' CN in the past has outsourced some of its engineering staff but is now insourcing it with a corresponding reduction in cost. 'We have also had a certain level of attrition within furloughs, but depending on growth we may do a little bit of hiring. Also, we can handle any surge volume by putting management employees on trains; we can do that in Canada [per labor rules] and not take people off furlough.' While saying that 'we don't manage to operating ratio,' Robinson added CN 'won't oversell our network but improved volume is magic in a fixed cost environment. 'In this framework, the operating ratio should start with a 5.' Boasting an operating model that has worked through strikes, port issues, forest fires and hard winters, CN currently has 80 locomotives and 4,000 cars in storage. 'We like to run the place lean and we are running fast right now. We need less equipment to run the same volume; that's resilience,' said Robinson. The railroad does not expect to purchase new motive power over the next several years, instead refurbishing 60-63 locomotives in 2025. 'We can also borrow loco hours off other railroads; there is some of that going on right now. Availability is at a level we haven't seen in some time.' Capital spending in 2025 is set at $3.4 billion, or 19% of revenue, for track maintenance and other work. Robinson said the Falcon Premium cross-border intermodal service operated with Union Pacific and Ferromex from Mexico to Detroit and Toronto is slowly growing volume. 'It's a long game turning the market around with truck business that should move by rail,' Robinson said. The company is aiming to upgrade its transborder services with Norfolk Southern connecting Canada with Kansas City, Missouri, and Atlanta, and CSX linking Montreal and southern Ontario with ports in Philadelphia and New York-New Jersey, to Falcon Premium levels. The former Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway, acquired by CN in 2007, gives the railroad a bypass around the Chicago bottleneck that 'nobody else has; we can get around there in 24 hours,' Robinson said. Subscribe to FreightWaves' Rail e-newsletter and get the latest insights on rail freight right in your inbox. Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here. Coal, grain keep US rail freight ahead of 2024 levels Some Class I railroads take fresh look at mergers CSX lost out on $1 million a day in Q1 revenue amid hurricane, tunnel work Trump's FRA nominee vows to uphold 2-person train crews The post Tariffs temper Canadian National outlook appeared first on FreightWaves. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Canadian National Railway (CNI) Stock Outpacing Its Transportation Peers This Year?
Investors interested in Transportation stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Canadian National (CNI) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Transportation peers, we might be able to answer that question. Canadian National is a member of the Transportation sector. This group includes 125 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #16. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst. The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Canadian National is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CNI's full-year earnings has moved 3.1% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving. According to our latest data, CNI has moved about 4.8% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Transportation companies have returned an average of -5.4%. This means that Canadian National is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns. Proficient Auto Logistics, Inc. (PAL) is another Transportation stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 0.4%. For Proficient Auto Logistics, Inc. the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 78.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). To break things down more, Canadian National belongs to the Transportation - Rail industry, a group that includes 9 individual companies and currently sits at #75 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 2.4% this year, meaning that CNI is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. In contrast, Proficient Auto Logistics, Inc. falls under the Transportation - Services industry. Currently, this industry has 24 stocks and is ranked #145. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -0.6%. Going forward, investors interested in Transportation stocks should continue to pay close attention to Canadian National and Proficient Auto Logistics, Inc. as they could maintain their solid performance. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Canadian National Railway Company (CNI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Proficient Auto Logistics, Inc. (PAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
First look: CN earnings
Canadian National (NYSE: CNI) achieved notable improvements across key performance metrics during the first quarter as revenue and profits were higher year on year despite challenging winter conditions. For the three months ending March 31, revenue ton-miles (RTMs) saw a 1% increase to 60 billion, while total revenues grew by $111 million to reach $3.18 billion, a 4% increase. Operating income also showed positive momentum, rising by $46 million to $1.2 billion, a 4% improvement. All freight showed carload gains save for flat intermodal and automotive, off 1% y/y. The company's operating ratio, an indicator of efficiency, improved by 0.2 points to 63.4%. Shareholders benefited from an 8% increase in diluted earnings per share, which reached $1.34. Free cash flow improved from $382 million to $452 million. Average car velocity slowed to 189 miles from 205 miles per day, while dwell increased to 7.8 hours from 7.1 hours in 2024. Average train speed slipped from 18.7 mph to 17.7 mph. The injury frequency rate per 200,000 employee hours was unchanged at 1.11. The accident rate climbed to 2.09 from 1.73 per million train miles. 'Our team delivered a strong performance this quarter through tight cost control and disciplined adherence to our plan, mitigating the impact of winter conditions,' said Tracy Robinson, president and chief executive of Montreal-based CN, in a release. 'In the context of a volatile macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, we will remain focused on agility and customer collaboration.' Looking ahead to the remainder of 2025, CN maintained its guidance for adjusted diluted EPS growth of 10%-15%. The company has allocated approximately $2.46 billion for its capital investment program, net of customer reimbursements, for network enhancement and service improvement. The carrier said it expects 2025 North American industrial production to be flat y/y. The long-term outlook for 2024-2026 remains steady, with a target of high-single-digit compounded annual adjusted diluted EPS growth. While the company's guidance and financial outlook remain unchanged, CN acknowledges heightened recessionary risks related to international trade tensions and tariff actions. Subscribe to FreightWaves' Rail e-newsletter and get the latest insights on rail freight right in your inbox. Find more articles by Stuart Chirls Pacific heritage locomotive honors Abraham Lincoln CPKC's first-quarter profits rise despite trade war Dragon Cement deal fires Maine rail line revivalNew railroad heralds Indiana multimodal development The post First look: CN earnings appeared first on FreightWaves. Sign in to access your portfolio
