Train movements at Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) are almost back to normal after a short lockout of unionized workers, according to RailState, a provider of real-time rail data.
CN train movements were at 96% of pre-lockout levels as of Tuesday, while CPKC was at 95%, RailState said. The two railways came to a halt August 22 in Canada due to a labor dispute with more than 9,000 workers represented by the Teamsters union.
The federal government stepped in the same day, sending the dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board. The labor body released a decision Saturday evening that ordered the railways to resume normal operations and prevented workers from striking this week.
CN had already started its return to service on August 23, while CPKC workers returned to the job August 26.
The data doesn’t necessarily indicate that the volumes of goods shipped are close to normal. Train movements are indications of trains in motion, including those with empty cars; the figures don’t provide information on the loads being transported. RailState based its average daily volume on train movements between August 1 and August 21.
“Our recovery plan is underway,” CN said in an emailed statement. “We expect complete recovery to take several weeks to catch up the impact that supply chains have been dealing with since April.” CPKC said its recovery plan is underway and the railway is making progress.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, the workers’ union, says its lawyers are still working on a legal appeal of the labor board’s decision.
