CN unveils private car integration offering

   Canadian National Railway has unveiled a program to encourage private shippers to integrate their hopper cars into the railroad’s Western Canadian common fleet. It will accept bids from shippers until March 7.
   CN is targeting grain, oilseed and special crop shippers for service, it said in a release.
   Participants will received “weekly allotments to order cars from CN’s fleet for 25-car block shipments from CN-served loading locations in Western Canada to non-port destinations in the U.S., Eastern Canada or Western Canada,” it said.
   CN added that shippers will benefit from “year-round supply from CN’s common western fleet for shipping to commercial destinations in U.S. and Canada; cars incremental to general distribution from CN’s common fleet; priority in weekly car order confirmation and train service planning processes; and having CN manage participants’ private cars within CN’s common fleet.”