Throughout the winter, but especially whenever the mercury plunges, road conditions for vehicles have frequently played a pivotal role in Canadian day-to-day discussions, as the weather becomes colder and the snow begins to drift over the pavement. However, icier temperatures can also have a noticeable affect on railways and could even create transportation delays for ag producers.
So far this winter, Canadian Pacific reported a record-setting movement of grain for December 2019, which was up from 2.1 per cent last year. 鈥�2019 has been a banner year for CP and the Canadian grain supply chain despite the challenging economic and environmental conditions,鈥� said Joan Hardy, CP's Vice-President Sales and Marketing, Grain and Fertilizers.
But although the nation鈥檚 railway systems are working harder to ship Canadian agricultural products to their respective ports, colder temperatures are still enabled to either halt or slow the haulage process by rail. According to Brian Cross in the Western Producer, freezing temperatures often mean railway crews have to shorten train lengths, since smaller trains permit rail crews to maintain the air pressure in rail car braking systems with greater ease.
The speed of trains can also be undermined by colder temperatures, because trains are required to stop more often in wintry periods in order to guarantee travel safety. Also, snow and ice can stop signalling points from working as they normally would in the springs and summers. Whenever mechanical switches are crammed with ice, they can become unyielding and inflexible.
Equipment-related derailments are also more frequent in the winter, whereas derailments resulting from environmental causes appear to happen more often in warmer conditions. In an analysis of Canadian train derailments from 2001-2014, Eric M. Leishman wrote 鈥渄erailments due to rail and wheel breaks were more common in the winter, while derailments attributed to subgrade and track geometry issues were more common in the summer.鈥澛� 聽
