Volume 13 Number 3 February 9, 1983

CP Rail plans to make $110 million in track improvements across Canada this year, improvements that will provide summertime employment for more than 1,700 additional workers.

This capital program includes 250 miles (402 kilometres) of new and heavier rail, replacement of more than 1.2 million ties, and 420 miles (676 kilometres) of ballast.

"Much of the work will be done in Western Canada where we operate heavier trains," said R.S. Allison, executive vice-president. "And, to get the job done, more than 1,700 extra workers will be employed for varying times during the summer construction season."

On the Pacific Region, 126 miles (203 kilometres) of new and heavier rail will be laid. About 65 miles (105 kilometres) of 100 lb/yd (pounds per yard) rail will be replaced with 115 lb/yd rail and 61 miles (98 kilometres) of 115 and 132 lb/yd rail will be replaced with rail weighing 136 lb/yd.

The longest single stretch of track to be replaced on the Pacific Region will be about 39 miles (63 kilometres) on the Leduc sub-division between Red Deer, Alberta, and Edmonton.

More than 85 miles (137 kilometres) of new rail will be installed on the Prairie Region. Of this total, more than 78 miles (126 kilometres) of existing 100 lb/yd rail will be replaced with 115 or 136 lb/yd rail. And of the more than 38 miles (61 kilometres) of new rail destined for the railway's Eastern Region, some two-thirds of it will be installed on the Nipigon sub-division in Northern Ontario between Thunder Bay and Chapleau.

COST $53 MILLION

The cost of the new rail program is about $53 million.

About 115 miles (185 kilometres) of the rail released from the main track after the new rail has been laid will be refurbished and re-used as relay rail in branch lines and mainline sidings across the system. The cost to carry out this work will total about $3.7 million.

Another $29 million will be spent replacing more than 1.2 million ties on the system. About 60 percent of the ties, some 750,000 in all, will be changed-out on the Pacific and Prairie Regions and another 500,000 on the Atlantic and Eastern Regions.

Another major part of the railway's track renewal program this year involves 420 miles (676 kilometres) of new crushed rock ballast, an increase of more than 200 percent over last year's mileage.

The program, which will cost about $13 million, calls for 185 miles (298 kilometres) of new ballast on the Pacific Region, 89 miles (143 kilometres) on each of the Prairie and Eastern Regions and 57 miles (92 kilometres) on the Atlantic Region.

Another major program is bridge replacement. This year about $10.6 million will be spent on the replacement of 52 bridges and the completion of 21 other bridges.