22 March 2007
CP Rail Expects to Recover from Winter Weather Woes
BEFORE - 15 March 2007.
AFTER - 17 March 2007.
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.'s chief executive said on Thursday
the company should recover quickly from disruptions in its rail operations in Western Canada caused by severe winter weather.
CP said on Wednesday that the avalanches and rockslides that have hit its main line several times this winter will hurt its
first-quarter results, but that it is maintaining its earnings-per-share forecast of $4.30 to $4.45 for 2007
as a whole.
The mountain snowpack along portions of CP's line in British Columbia is at the highest level in a half century, and coastal areas of
the Western Canadian province have been soaked with several heavy rain storms.
"The line has been there 130 years. It runs really well, but it has been washed out two or three times, and it just takes time to
go in and fix it," chief executive Fred Green told a JP Morgan investment conference in New York.
The latest rockslide to knock out CP's main line struck Tuesday near Boston Bar, British Columbia, and the line is not expected to
reopen until Friday. It hit less than a week after a slide in nearby Lytton that took five days to repair.
Green showed analysts a picture of the Lytton site that showed the railway's track dangling mid-air over the washout.
Lytton and Boston Bar are both in British Columbia's Fraser River Canyon.
"I think (the rough weather) is a one-off. We're going through a couple of tough periods, but that's our
reality," he said. "I'm looking forward to this unique weather to come and go."
Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railway Co. share main lines through the Fraser river canyon. CP has been able to divert trains
over CN's tracks, but the added traffic slows the operations of both railroads.
Canadian National has also has some weather problems with its track in the region this winter, and is recovering from a
two-week walkout by train crews, who may restart their strike in April if a contract deal is rejected by union members.
The rail problems and a washout of the Trans-Canada Highway through the Fraser Canyon have created a backlog at Canada's
largest port in Vancouver, British Columbia, but port officials said the situation is improving.
There were 4,100 containers waiting for railcars at Vancouver's Deltaport facility and about 1,850 at the port's Vanterm
facility.
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