Rail Companies Issue First New Status Reports on Grain Car Backlog

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) and BNSF Railway have publicly filed their first weekly status updates on the backlog in grain shipments as required by a decision last week by the Surface Transportation Board (STB), Congressman Kevin Cramer said today. The figures from BNSF show a total of 4,942 past due rail cars in North Dakota averaging 32 days late. The CP report does not include a specific number of past due rail cars or average lateness, but estimates a backlog demand of 10,000 to 12,000 cars.

“These updates are a welcome development which rightly focus attention on severe delays in grain shipments. They show there is a lot of work to be done before agriculture producers will again have confidence in the reliability of rail service,” said Cramer. “The summer construction season is in full swing which should mean we will soon begin to see the results of ongoing infrastructure improvements.”

The two companies were ordered by the STB to report their plans for resolving the backlog of grain car orders, and begin issuing weekly status reports until the problem is resolved. The BNSF report can be viewed here, and the CP report can be viewed here.