CN announced Thursday it will invest $100 million in a logistics park northeast of the city and close its cramped southeast Calgary train yard, the Calgary Herald reports.
The decision will mean fewer trains shuttling through southeast Calgary, welcome news to commuters who are often frustrated by long delays at track crossings.
The transportation company said it is expanding to Rocky View County because its customers have demanded it and there's no room to grow at its yard south of 50th Avenue between Barlow Trail and 52nd Avenue S.E.
"We are very excited about business prospects in Alberta and this investment in the Calgary area," said Claude Mongeau, president and chief executive of Canadian National Railway Co., in a news release that adds Calgary is considered the third-largest distribution centre in Canada and is "becoming the logistics hub of Western Canada."
The new 272-hectare CN Calgary Logistics Park near Conrich in Rocky View County is expected to open in 2013 and will include an intermodal terminal with room for customers to move in and custom build their own facilities.
CN spokeswoman Kelli Svendsen said CN has not decided what to do with its Calgary rail yard but confirmed there will be fewer trains to snarl traffic.
"It will depend on what customer demand is in that area but there will be fewer trains because there won't be a switching operation in that area," she said.
Peter Wallis, president of the Van Horne Institute for International Transportation and Regulatory Affairs at the University of Calgary, said the CN investment fits in well with Calgary's other transportation strengths, such as being home to WestJet Airlines and Canadian Pacific Railway, as well as initiatives such as creating an air freight hub at the Calgary International Airport.
(This item appeared Feb. 5, 2010, in the Calgary Herald.)
Right in CP's backyard tu! Looks a bit sneaky...like everything else Hillbilly Harrison has done since movin' up ta Canada!
Wouldn't it be somethin' IF CN made a 'hostile' takeover of CP? ONE more BIG trans-con...Canuck style! Just call it Canadian National! For obvious reasons...
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Hmm. That address doesnt look right. It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.
