20 June 2010

High Water in Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan Impacts CP Rail

Calgary Alberta Service Bulletin - As an update to our bulletin late last week, a once in 100-year rainfall event has caused flooding and widespread damage in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. This has caused the closure of the Trans-Canada Highway east of Medicine Hat and local states of emergency have been declared in nine municipal jurisdictions. Red Cross evacuations have taken place in four communities.
 
High water has also affected CP's right-of-way on the Maple Creek Subdivision between Medicine Hat, Alberta, and Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Our southern mainline is closed, but we have remained operational by rerouting traffic over other available rail lines. We are now repairing our right-of-way as the water recedes but expect the line to be out a minimum of three more days.
 
We are deploying over 60 management and unionized train crew employees and other resources to facilitate movement of traffic on other routes. This is allowing us to reroute traffic to the greatest extent possible over our northern route and via other railways. With the restoration today of our Montana Subdivision between Lethbridge and Coutts/Sweetgrass after last week's washout, we are now also able to use this line for both normal traffic and as an alternate route.
 
Our engineering crews are employing significant resources to restore our route as soon as safely possible, and our operations team is working to move all traffic by continuing to expand our capability to move additional traffic on alternate routes.
 
We continue to monitor the weather in all affected areas and will be sending further updates daily as the contingency plans are updated.
 
Those directly impacted will be contacted by our Customer Service Team. Further questions about the flooding or specific shipment problem resolution inquiries can be directed to our Customer Service Team at 1-888-333-8111. To trace your shipment, visit www.mycpr.ca.