“What those asking for this policy want is a cheaper rate. It is not about improving service. Nor will it improve competitiveness. Extended interswitching will do the exact opposite. The only winners with extended regulated interswitching are U.S. railways.” – Marc Brazeau, Railway Association of Canada.

Interswitching resurgence puts railways, grain industries on collision course

Both sides say a pilot to test a bigger interswitching radius is a bad move, but for opposite reasons and to opposite effect

Recent federal legislation has raised the stakes in a decade-long battle between the railways and Canadian grain shippers. The battle is over the interswitching radius. Interswitching is a regulation to ensure that shippers located where only a single railway operates can access points that are not served by that railway. The regulation kicks in when

A decade of interswitching debate

A decade of interswitching debate

Rail bottlenecks, federal reports and renewed life for extended interswitching

Interswitching has been regulated since 1904 in Canada but in 2013 an exceptional harvest led to record-breaking grain production in Western Canada. The increased supply, combined with challenging weather conditions, overwhelmed the railways and led to significant delays in moving grain to export terminals. In 2014, the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act reached Parliament


(Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Preview: Railways, grain shippers at loggerheads over interswitching

Pilot to test expanded radius deemed unnecessary by both sides

Recent legislation has raised the stakes in a decade-long battle between the railways and Canadian grain shippers over the interswitching radius. Interswitching refers to a regulation to ensure shippers located where only a single railway operates can access points that are not served by that railway. The issue is especially concerning for Canadian grain shippers

(Orchidpoet/iStock/Getty Images)

Rail interswitching expansion pilot clears Parliament

Grain handlers to press for plan to be made permanent

Last week’s passage of the 2023 federal budget starts a 90-day countdown toward an 18-month test of expanded interswitching on railways in the three Prairie provinces. Bill C-47, the government’s budget implementation bill — which was first read April 20 in the House of Commons and got third reading in the Senate and royal assent


(File photo by Dave Bedard)

U.S. regulator approves CP’s purchase of Kansas City Southern

Two U.S. grain grower groups warn of reduced rail competition

Washington | Reuters — The Surface Transportation Board of the United States said on Wednesday it had approved Canadian Pacific Railway’s US$31 billion acquisition of railroad company Kansas City Southern, with a series of environmental and competition conditions. The board, which oversees U.S. freight railroads, is imposing some requirements on the deal, which was agreed

The president of Quorum Corporation is concerned about a bottleneck of grain-shipping vessels on the West Coast.

Grain is moving, but problems persist

Systemic issues surrounding grain shipments have yet to be addressed

Grain shipments are moving better than they were this time last year, but that’s not saying much. “Last year was awful,” Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA) executive director Wade Sobkowich said. “We had some major deficiencies in rail service between January and March of 2022.” Indeed, things were so bad in the winter of 2022


File photo of a BNSF grain train crossing the Gassman Coulee trestle near Minot, North Dakota. (Photo courtesy BNSF Railway)

Biden administration makes case for quick Senate vote to avoid rail shutdown

Bill imposing deal on workers clears House

Washington | Reuters — The Biden administration on Thursday urged the U.S. Senate to quickly pass a bill to block a railroad strike, warning that serious economic disruptions could be felt within days. The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to approve a bill to impose a tentative contract deal reached in September on

U.S. President Joe Biden tours a manufacturing lab at McHenry County College during a visit to northwest Chicago suburb Crystal Lake on July 7, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

Biden says administration engaged in talks to avert U.S. railroad strike

CN's U.S. operations would be affected

Nantucket | Reuters — U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday that his administration was involved in negotiations to avert a looming U.S. railroad strike that could shut down supply chains across the country but added that he has not directly engaged on the matter yet. Speaking to reporters outside a fire station on Nantucket


A Panama-flagged bulk carrier, Ikaria Angel, leaves Ukraine’s port of Chornomorsk with wheat for Ethiopia on Sept. 17, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/Serhii Smolientsev)

CBOT weekly outlook: Renewed agreement puts pressure on corn, wheat

Soy trade focused on Brazil's crop potential

MarketsFarm — A renewed agreement between Russia and Ukraine to allow the latter’s grain to be shipped out of the Black Sea has recently been putting pressure on corn and wheat prices at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Russia and Ukraine, with mediation from the United Nations and Turkey, agreed Nov. 17 to an

CBOT March 2023 soft red winter wheat (candlesticks) with 20-day moving average (green line), MGEX March 2023 hard red spring wheat (yellow line) and K.C. March 2023 hard red winter wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Futures slip on rail strike threat, EU wheat talk

U.S. winter crop ratings at lowest since at least 1986

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade grain futures fell on Tuesday, amid growing concern over a possible U.S. rail strike and market speculation that U.S. grain buyers were purchasing European Union wheat, traders said. French wheat sales to China and the prospect of Polish or German wheat being booked in the United States