CN Rail CEO Vows Loyalty to Grain Farmers as Oil Shipments Climb
- Ruest boosting capital spending to record to fix logjams
- Says CN doesn’t want to replace long-lasting business with oil
Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
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Crude oil demand may be on the rise again, but Canadian National Railway Co.’s new leader insists energy shipments won’t displace longtime railroad staples such as grain and lumber.
Grain farmers in the western Prairie provinces saw exports slow to a crawl when Canadian National proved unable to cope with a surge in demand starting in the second half of last year. In March, with bottlenecks and customer complaints mounting, Canada’s biggest railroad ousted then-Chief Executive Officer Luc Jobin -- prompting his successor, Jean-Jacques Ruest, to boost capital spending to a record C$3.5 billion ($2.7 billion) to start fixing the logjams.