CPR upgrades Vaughn facility

TORONTO (June 11, 2001) — Canadian Pacific Railway said a $26 million expansion program at its Vaughn, Ont., intermodal terminal will be compete Aug. 30, resulting in a new layout and equipment to speed the location and loading of containers.

The facility, north of metropolitan Toronto, is the largest and busiest of the CPR’s 22 intermodal terminals, and a frequent subject of complaints about congestion.

CPR said improvements such as a new marine container depot, three 5000-foot tracks where car are loaded and unloaded, and new toplifters will enable the terminal to handle 350,000 containers a year, up from 110,000 containers when the facility opened in 1991.

Railroad officials said the expansion will allow CPR to shift some east-west traffic to Vaughan and free up capacity at its Obico facility west of Toronto.

CPR will also spend $8 million to expand its intermodal terminal in Calgary to 150,000 container handlings annually, from the current 105,000. A further $1.6 million in improvements are planned for CPR’s Bensenville Yard in Chicago.

Intermodal freight is now the biggest revenue generator among CPR’s lines of business, having surpassed grain as well as coal and other bulk commodities. In the first quarter of 2001, intermodal delivered 23% of CPR’s total revenue.