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Chronology of CPR Intermodal
ROLL ON, ROLL OFF: In 1952, CPR inaugurated piggyback service between Toronto
and Montreal on an overnight schedule, using flatcars equipped with roller bearings.
The Experimental Phase: 1858-1951
1858 - The World's first known intermodal freight service inaugurated on a section of the Nova Scotia Railway, which later became part of the CPR.
Farmers' wagons and horses are transported to market on flatcars. The service is so popular it grows to account for 15 percent of the line's revenue.
1933 - CPR introduces a regional, coordinated truck-rail service, blanketing southern Ontario. Parcel express loads are transferred between trains and
trucks, extending CPR's market reach to off-line communities.
1952 - December first, CPR inaugurates Plan II piggyback service, handling CP Express trailers between Toronto and Montreal. The new service operates on
an overnight schedule with flatcars equipped with roller bearings to travel at up to 65 mph.
1954 - CPR Plan II piggyback service is introduced in western Canada between Winnipeg and Regina, and quickly expanded.
1955 - CPR Plan II service is progressively extended across a 5,000-mile system stretching from Saint John, New Brunswick, to Vancouver, British Columbia.
1957 - On its fifth anniversary, CPR handles 24,059 trailers in piggyback service. 9 Oct 1957, CPR Plan I service for common carriers or
"for-hire" truckers introduced between Toronto and Montreal.
1958 - CPR Plan I service extended as far west as Winnipeg. Its popularity soars with for-hire truckers. CPR handles 63,216 trailers, of which 42,415
were carried under Plan I. October, CPR introduces Plan I service, handling for-hire trailers on flatcars at the head end of passenger trains between Thunder
Bay and Winnipeg. Other points for Plan I and II traffic are added to this high speed piggyback system.
1959 - CPR Plan I service introduced across its entire system. The trade magazine, Railway Age, describes the CPR as the world's largest intermodal
operator with the world's largest fleet, 951 intermodal flatcars.
1963 - CPR handles 138,000 trailers in piggyback service.
The Container Revolution: 1964-1979
1964 - CPR tests the container concept with 20-foot aluminum boxes of express parcel traffic riding on the rebuilt frames and wheels of surplus sleeping
cars. Montreal-Toronto service is later extended to North Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, and Saint John, N.B.
1969 - The international steamship business is revolutionized with the introduction of 20 and 40-foot ISO marine containers, streamlining the flow of
import-export goods. Chartered Dutch vessel Eemstroom launches the service with its arrival at CPR's new Wolfe's Cove terminal in the Port of Quebec.
1978 - CPR Intermodal service acquires some 1,000 container flatcars and 2,000 piggyback flatcars.
1979 - CPR embarks on domestic containerization program, the first in North America. Service begins with the $11 million purchase of high-capacity,
44-foot-three-inch containers, flatcars, truck chassis, and loading equipment for service between Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver.
Intermodal Comes of Age: 1980-1999
1980 - CPR introduces the first all intermodal transcontinental train, intermodal traffic previously moved in mixed-commodity trains. The new
Toronto-Vancouver train picks up and sets off high-priority intermodal traffic at Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, and Calgary. Phase two of CPR's domestic container
program gets under way with $20 million in additional flatcars, containers, truck chassis, and toplifters. Service is expanded to Winnipeg, Regina, and
Lethbridge. CPR opens its new $5.5-million Mayfair intermodal terminal in the Vancouver area.
1981 - CPR orders 265 container flatcars, worth $16.25 million, for domestic and import-export traffic, increasing its dual-purpose fleet by 60 percent
to more than 500 cars. The entire CPR fleet includes another 1,100 cars for marine containers only.
1982 - On its 30th anniversary, CPR Intermodal serves 35 terminals with 1,500 domestic containers, 1,163 chassis, 1,750 container flat cars, 1,300
piggyback trailers, and 1,990 piggyback flatcars.
1983 - CPR introduces a high-priority, all-intermodal train in the Toronto-Montreal corridor competing for trailer and container traffic between
southern Ontario and Atlantic Canada. The two overnight trains take advantage of the substantial upgrading to the railway's infrastructure between Canada's two
largest cities.
1984 - CPR's domestic container program is expanded with additional equipment and services. In the five years since its introduction, CPR has invested
more than $70 million in rolling stock, containers, truck chassis, and toplifting or "piggypacking" loading equipment. CPR's fleet consists of 1,750
domestic containers, 1,500 chassis, 2,000 container flat cars, 1,300 piggyback trailers, and 1,990 piggyback trailer flatcars.
1985 - CPR tests a three-unit, double-stack container flatcar designed for use in the U.S. CPR opens its first terminal designed exclusively for toplift
highway trailers, a $14-million facility located in Edmonton, Alberta. CPR also opens an intermodal facility in Saint John, N.B., and handles its 5,000,000th
container.
1986 - CPR designs and tests a single-unit, double-stack container car that carries two 20-foot containrs on the bottom and one 40-foot container on top.
1987 - First CPR U.S. intermodal terminal opened at Detroit. The terminal is a strategic move to maximize the advantage of CPR's purchase, with CN, of
the Detroit River Tunnel, linking Windsor and Detroit.
1988 - CPR Intermodal handles 385,000 container and piggyback loads.
1989 - CPR begins building its largest intermodal facility, a $30-million, 200-acre terminal in the greater Toronto Area. CPR also acquires 100
five-platform spine cars for single-level container service. The platforms are articulated for improved train performance and service. Domestic container
capacity is boosted when CPR introduces a 3,460-cubic-foot, 48-foot-long domestic container fleet, replacing its 44-foot-3-inch containers.
1990 - CPR launches an innovative intermodal service using a "graintainer" to haul grain by truck from an Alberta farm to CPR's intermodal
terminal in Edmonton, then by rail to Vancouver and by truck again to the U.S. border at White Rock, B.C.
1991 - With its purchase of the Delaware & Hudson Railway, CPR extends intermodal service to New York and Philadelphia. A $15-million tunnel
enlargement program in Western Canada clears the way for double-stack container service between the Port of Vancouver and Eastern Canada.
1992 - CPR launches double-stack service between Toronto and Montreal. CPR also expands its U.S. intermodal service, opening terminals in Albany, New
York, Oak Island, New Jersey, and Taylor, Pennsylvania. CPR tests prototype waste containers for municipal solid waste.
1993 - Completing an 18-month program to increase the clearance in 47 tunnels, CPR introduces second-generation double-stack service between Montreal
and Vancouver.
1994 - CPR's lines into New York and Pennsylvania are cleared for 9-foot-6-inch containers double-stacked, making virtually the entire CPR system clear
to handle second-generation double-stack containers.
1996 - CPR tests a radically new trailer-on-train technology in the intermodal market between Montreal and Toronto. CPR's continuous-platform Expressway
trains employ a fast roll-on/roll-off system that eliminates the need to reinforce trailers for top or side lifting. Expressway becomes the only present-day
intermodal service that can move any trailer by train.
1998 - CPR opens a $28-million intermodal facility in Calgary with capacity for 105,000 containers and trailers a year.
1999 - Expressway ends its test period with an A+. CPR introduces improved five-platform Expressway cars. Purpose-built terminals are opened in the
Greater Toronto and Montreal areas, improving service and expanding capacity. CPR expands its Montreal-area intermodal facility, increasing annual handling
capacity to 180,000, from 115,000. CPR opens a $37-million intermodal terminal in Vancouver, with annual capacity of 120,000 handlings.
Intermodal Today: 2000-2002
2000 - CPR expands its Expressway service to Detroit, opening an Expressway terminal in Motor City and operating two 60-trailer trains a day in the
Montreal-Toronto-Detroit corridor.
2001 - CPR moves to expand capacity at two key facilities to stay ahead of rapid growth in intermodal. The Toronto-area Vaughan facility is expanded by
70 percent to 400,000 handlings a year. The Calgary facility is expanded two years ahead of schedule, growing by 45 percent to 180,000 handlings a year.
2002 - CPR intermodal marks its 50th anniversary on December 1st. It has become CPR's fastest growing business and its biggest revenue generator.
Revenue has grown by nearly $200 million or 30 percent in the last five years. In the first three quarters of 2002 alone, revenue is up $43 million or 7
percent over the same period last year.
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