CN to reopen to Vancouver Wednesday

Canadian National Railway (CN) says it’s almost set to resume some service to Vancouver, starting early Wednesday.

Montreal-based CN said in an emailed statement Tuesday that repair work on damaged sections of its track from Kamloops to Vancouver “progressed well over the weekend” and the line will reopen to “limited traffic” tomorrow “barring any unforeseen issues.”

The company hasn’t yet specified what kinds of limits will be placed on its rail traffic through the area.

The news comes as Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) gets set to reopen its own Kamloops-Vancouver line Tuesday.

CN and CP’s mainlines were cut off in last week’s rainstorms over southern B.C., which created floods and landslides that are known to have killed at least four people and thousands of head of livestock, shut highways, cut off export access to Vancouver’s ports and disrupted supply chains for food, fuel, commodities and other goods through the region.

Forecasters predict further “atmospheric river” systems will bring more rain to the region starting later this week, while higher temperatures are expected to add mountain snowmelt to the mix.

CN on Tuesday also reminded shippers that its track to West Coast bulk and container port facilities at Prince Rupert, about 1,000 km northwest of Vancouver, is unaffected.

Prince Rupert, CN said, “remains fully operational and is not experiencing any impact to port or rail operations related to the extreme weather events in southern British Columbia.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network