CN can continue to run its advance car booking program for grain hopper cars while the Canadian Transportation Agency hears the complaint against it, the CTA ruled Friday.
The railway’s advance booking programs are at the heart of a level-of-service complaint against it to the CTA, filed by the Canadian Wheat Board and five smaller Prairie grain-handling companies.
The companies and the CWB had asked for an interim order that would block CN from running its programs until the dispute is resolved, but the CTA ruled against the request, the CWB said in a release Friday.
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The complaint alleges CN has failed to comply with the spirit of a recent ruling against it, by offering what the companies say is an insufficient number of 50-car yearly advance bookings, in favour of 100-car units that must essentially be booked for 42 consecutive weeks to ensure hopper car supply. While larger grain companies with bigger elevator networks can use such a program, the smaller companies argue that they can’t participate in a 100-car unit program and want CN to commit to distribute at least half its rail car fleet as general weekly distribution.
The Reuters news agency quoted the CTA’s decision Friday as saying “it would be unreasonable to order CN to suspend its programs at this time” and that CN has ended one of the programs, thus freeing up more rail cars to handle the needs of smaller shippers.
The CTA will now hear the shippers’ and CN’s arguments and is expected to make a decision in early 2008.
North East Terminal, North West Terminal, Paterson Grain, Parrish and Heimbecker and Providence Grain are the five Prairie shippers joining the CWB in its complaint.
