Canadian National (CN) is planning to invest more than $80 million into Minnesota’s rail infrastructure over the course of the year.
The announcement, made earlier this week, is part of a larger corporate investment strategy including $2.9 billion spread throughout the United States, with a focus on building growth among all of the company’s commodity segments. Within two years, they hope to nearly double that figure.
“Following a record capital program in 2018, CN has been able to take on more traffic from different commodity sectors based on contracts with our customers,” Derek Taylor, vice president of CN’s Southern Region, said. “This year, we are continuing to invest to boost capacity and network resiliency and to meet growing traffic on our corridors across Minnesota.”
For Minnesota, these investments will take the form of a positive train control system, construction of a near train passing siding near Glendale, Minnesota, as well as maintenance of a number of areas, such as railroad ties, rebuilds of 23 road crossing services and replacement of more than 10 miles of rail. Throughout its network, CN also intends to install an Autonomous Track Inspection Program, Distributed Air Cars, Automated Inspection Portals and Positive Train Control System over the coming years.