News Release

Canadian Pacific Railway wants to ship Montana grain west

5/24/2002
Ron Zellar
406-444-3144
rzellar@state.mt.us

HELENA, Mont. - Canadian Pacific Railway executives told state officials this week they would like to ship Montana grain over their system, providing a new rail shipping option for producers now limited to Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

"Canadian Pacific informed us that they are indeed interested in moving Montana grain to markets on the West Coast," said Governor Judy Martz.

Martz is optimistic that details will be worked out in the coming months, as Canadian Pacific gains a better understanding of opportunities and barriers to entering the Montana market.

Currently, Canadian Pacific does not have access to Burlington Northern tracks in Montana. However, the company is willing to load grain at its facilities just across the border, providing an alternative shipper for producers in northern Montana, said Ralph Peck, director of the Montana Department of Agriculture.

CP officials said they already work closely with Union Pacific Railroad in several other locations, and likely could work with UP to route the cars from Canada down the West Coast to Portland, Oregon, or other U.S. ports.

Martz said the meeting May 22 was a follow-up to a visit to Canada earlier this year by Peck, Commerce Director Mark Simonich and Transportation Director Dave Galt. "In both meetings, we informed Canadian Pacific that Montana is 'open for business,' and offered any assistance we could provide to help them bring rail competition back to Montana," Martz said.

Montana will work with government officials in Canada to remove any barriers to grain movement by truck into Canada, Peck said. State officials plan to work over the coming weeks to present economic and agricultural data to CP so that they can more accurately determine what advantage they would have to expanding in Montana.

Peck returned Tuesday from meetings with BNSF officials in Fort Worth, Texas. One topic discussed a BNSF rate structure that gives large discounts "shuttle train" shippers in Minnesota and eastern North Dakota, making it cheaper for them to ship grain to the West Coast than it is for shippers in Montana.

The BNSF meeting produced no immediate solution to the grievances cited by grain shippers in Montana, Peck said. "We had a good exchange of ideas," he said. "We will continue to aggressively pursue any options that will reduce the economic disadvantage current rates place on the grain industry in this state."

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