Rail Companies Issue New Status Reports on Grain Car Backlog

WASHINGTON, D.C. – BNSF Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) have publicly filed their second weekly status updates on the backlog in grain shipments, Congressman Kevin Cramer said today. The figures from BNSF show a total of 4,696 past due rail cars in North Dakota averaging 28.5 days late as of July 3, an improvement from the previous report which indicated 4,942 past due cars were averaging 32 days late. The CP report shows a total of 24,786 open requests in North Dakota with an average age of 9.68 weeks. The previous report showed 23,818 open requests but did not indicate the average age of the requests.

“There is no question the delays have continued longer than the rail companies forecasted. Grain bins and elevators continue to hold excess supply while this backlog persists, costing farmers time and revenue,” said Cramer. “There is a great sense of urgency to get this resolved during the provided window of time before fall harvest begins.”

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.