CN hikes capacity, ground space at intermodal hub

BRAMPTON, Ont. — CN Rail says it has expanded capacity at its Brampton Intermodal Terminal to accommodate growing container volumes.

New improvements include:

The installation of new track and extension of existing track to increase rail capacity by close to 15 per cent; creation of approximately 25 percent more ground space for international containers by staging CN containers offsite; purchasing five new cranes, after the acquisition of five new ones last fall, and, increasing the labor force by about 10 percent

BIT – located just north of Toronto — is Canada’s largest rail intermodal terminal and a key component in CN’s distribution network. Almost 60 per cent of the railway’s system-wide intermodal business touches the terminal, the railway says.

"Intermodal is one of CN’s fastest-growing business segments," says Claude Mongeau, president and CEO of CN. "We are investing in new track, equipment and other infrastructure improvements at BIT to take our intermodal service offering to the next level in efficiently distributing growing overseas container traffic reaching our network over Canadian ports as well as rising domestic intermodal shipments across Canada. These investments will increase supply chain efficiencies for our customers and help them grow their businesses."

These initiatives follow construction of new entry and exit lanes for truckers last December that increased BIT’s gate throughput by 33 percent, the company adds.

BIT’s 2011 intermodal volumes through the end of April increased by 12 percent over the same period in 2010.