Ottawa-based CN and Omaha, NE-based UP are offering the service for shipments moving between Central Canada, Michigan, Texas and Mexico City. Both railroads said this is the first in a series of CN-UP joint initiatives designed to improve transit times and rail service, expedite border crossings and provide truck-competitive service.
The new CN/UP intermodal service, scheduled to start October 8, will offer Detroit- and Toronto-area shippers third-morning service to Houston, fourth-morning availability at UP’s Port Laredo intermodal facility in Laredo, TX, and sixth-morning delivery in Mexico City in cooperation with Mexican railroad Grupo Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM).
CN will move Montreal, Toronto and Detroit shipments destined for Texas and Mexico south on its network to Memphis for interchange with UP. Union Pacific will then move the traffic to Texas destinations and steel-wheel interchange Mexican shipments to the TFM at Laredo, with northbound shipments following the reverse pattern.
Under the marketing agreement, CN and UP each have the ability to price through originating traffic destined to points on either network, which will result in improved pricing response times. CN and UP will provide service through their existing intermodal channel partners. CN will also offer customers door-to-door service as a complete logistics package, the railroads said.
CN has also opened a new intermodal terminal in Edmonton as part of its plans to expand intermodal service offerings.
