CN Rail obtains court order in quest to reopen rail lines at protest sites

A rail blockade near Hazelton is one of two major incidents that CN Rail
has gone to the courts on towards clearing the rails 

CN Rail issued a statement on Tuesday outlining some of the impact to its operations that have been realized as protesters in solidarity against the Coastal GasLink pipeline in the Wet'suwet'en territory have set up blockades on rail lines  in  number of locations across Canada.

The two of current concern for the railway are located at Belleville Ontario and near Hazelton in Northwest British Columbia, the latter having effectively shut down rail shipments to the Port of Prince Rupert.

CN President and CEO JJ Ruest outlined the cascading effect that the shut down of the rail service
has had across Canada including the operations into Prince Rupert.

CN Rail President and CEO
JJ Ruest

“Intermodal containers carrying perishable goods including food and consumer items, Canadian grain, deicing fluid at airports, construction materials, propane to Quebec and Atlantic Canada, natural resources creating rural jobs across Canada such as lumber, aluminum, coal and propane; all of these commodities are already impacted and will see their movements even more diminished. Factories and mines will be soon faced with very difficult decisions. 

The Port of Prince Rupert is effectively already shutdown. The Ports of Montreal and Halifax are also already feeling the impact of these blockades which will have a trickledown effect on consumer goods in the next few weeks,”

Rail movements are few and far
between on the Prince Rupert
waterfront today

The CN CEO also released details on the court injunction that the railway has obtained and what the process towards moving forward on it will be.

“We have obtained court injunctions for both locations and we are working with local enforcement agencies to enforce the orders. We have also engaged with customers, industry associations as well as officials in Ottawa and across Canada to explain to them the consequences and material impact that shutting down the railroad will have on their constituents,”

CN noted in their media release that unless the blockades are removed CN will be forced to shut down significant parts of its Cross Canada network.

The full statement from CN can be reviewed here.

Earlier today, Shaun Stevenson the CEO and President of the Port of Prince Rupert provided an update on how the rail blockade has impacted on Port Operations, noting that there have been no trains servicing the Port since Saturday, with a number of Terminals on the waterfront having now shut dow their operations.

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