Canadian Rail Services Near Normal After Brief Labor Disruption

Train operations at Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) are nearing pre-lockout levels following a brief labor disruption that halted services across Canada. According to RailState, a real-time rail data provider, CN’s train movements have reached 96% of normal levels as of Tuesday, while CPKC is operating at 95% capacity.

The railways experienced a shutdown on August 22 due to a labor dispute involving over 9,000 unionized workers represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference. The federal government intervened the same day, referring the matter to the Canada Industrial Relations Board. The board issued a ruling on Saturday evening, mandating the railways to resume regular operations and barring workers from striking this week.

CN began its return to service on August 23, with CPKC workers resuming operations on August 26. However, the data from RailState reflects the number of trains in motion, including those with empty cars, and does not necessarily indicate that the volume of goods transported has returned to normal. RailState based its analysis on average daily train movements recorded between August 1 and August 21.

“Our recovery plan is underway,” CN said in a statement, noting that it may take several weeks to fully recover from the disruptions that have affected supply chains since April. CPKC also confirmed that its recovery plan is progressing.

Meanwhile, the Teamsters union announced that its legal team is actively pursuing an appeal against the labor board’s decision.