Pasqua Saskatchewan - Canadian Pacific (CP) today unveiled the next generation of grain transportation at the G3 Pasqua elevator near Moose Jaw.
 
The 8,500-foot High Efficiency Product (HEP) train features new, and highly efficient, Canadian-made hopper cars, and can move approximately 44 percent more grain than the prior generation of grain train.
 
"A state-of-the-art loop track terminal like this is the perfect backdrop for launching our first HEP train and bringing in a new, more efficient era of moving Canada's grain to market," said Joan Hardy, CP's Vice-President Sales and Marketing Grain and Fertilizers.
 
"As CP continues to take delivery of new railcars, and elevator operators expand their facilities to handle 8,500 foot trains, this HEP train will become the new gold standard, driving further efficiencies for farmers, shippers, and the entire grain supply chain."
 
Sharing the podium with CP at the landmark event were Mark Dyck, G3's Senior Director Logistics, and the Honourable Lori Carr, Saskatchewan Minister for Highways and Infrastructure.
 
G3 constructed its state-of-the-art Pasqua terminal loop track to handle the 8,500 foot long HEP trains.
 
The fast loading loop track means CP can keep locomotives attached to the train during loading, and those same locomotives are in place to launch the train once loading is complete.
 
The new hopper cars that make up today's train feature a capacity 10 percent greater by weight than the older-model Government of Canada cars, and 15 percent more volume.
 
The cars carry this extra product on a frame 5 percent shorter than the older cars, meaning more cars can fit into a train of the same length.
 
The cars are part of a half-billion-dollar investment CP is making to upgrade its fleet to better and more efficiently serve farmers and the Canadian economy.
 
By the end of this year, CP will have approximately 500 new hopper cars in service, and that number will grow to 1,000 by spring 2019.
 
Over the next four years, CP plans to purchase a total of 5,900 new hopper cars.
 
CP moved 2.64 million metric tonnes (MMT) of Canadian grain and grain products in October making it CP's biggest month ever for moving Canadian grain, breaking the record from September 2017.
 
CP also announced earlier today that it has broken its previous record for carloads of Western Canadian grain and grain products shipped to the Port of Vancouver in a single month.
 
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