Operating revenue for the Canadian railway industry edged up 0.6 per cent from 2014 to $14.4 billion in 2015, said Statistics Canada Friday. Freight transportation revenue, which accounted for 91.2 per cent of total revenue, was up 0.3 per cent to $13.1 billion. In 2015, operating expenses fell 5.3 per cent to $10.0 billion.
Meanwhile, the volume of rail freight carried in Canada totalled 29.3 million tonnes in January, up 6.9 per cent from the same month last year, according to StatsCan Wednesday. In January, freight originating in Canada increased 6.6 per cent from the same month last year to 26.6 million tonnes.
Canada Railway Traffic
In 2015, the volume of commodities transported by Canadian rail carriers decreased 1.4 per cent to 304.9 million tonnes. This was the first year-over-year decrease since 2009. Higher shipments of iron ores and concentrates (up 5.7 million tonnes) and potash (up 1.0 million tonnes) were offset by lower shipments of coal (down 6.3 million tonnes), fuel oils and crude petroleum (down 3.9 million tonnes), and wheat (down 2.0 million tonnes).
In 2015, over half (56.7 per cent) of all rail shipments by weight originated in three provinces: British Columbia (61.3 million tonnes), Alberta (59.1 million tonnes) and Saskatchewan (52.4 million tonnes).
From 2014 to 2015, tonnage loaded in containers-on-flat-cars increased 2.3 per cent to 36.4 million tonnes, while tonnage loaded in trailers-on-flat-cars decreased 28.1 per cent to 329,113 tonnes. Shipments of coal and wheat decreased in 2015 but these products remained the top commodities by weight. The top six commodities shipped by Canadian railways accounted for 43.4 per cent of the total tonnage in 2015.
INCREASES IN OPERATING REVENUES AND EXPENSES
From 2010 to 2015, total operating revenue earned by Canadian railways increased 36.1 per cent, while total operating expenses rose 15.9 per cent. The total cost of diesel fuel increased
10.9 per cent over this period and total diesel fuel consumed was up 5.3 per cent.
In terms of output, the tonnage of revenue freight increased 5.7 per cent from 2010 to 331.5 million tonnes in 2015. The number of revenue passengers declined 8.8 per cent during this same period.
FREIGHT VOLUMES CANADA 2015
The volume of rail freight carried in Canada totalled 29.3 million tonnes in January, up 6.9 per cent from the same month last year.
In January, freight originating in Canada increased 6.6 per cent from the same month last year to 26.6 mil-
lion tonnes. Non-intermodal freight increased 6.5 per cent to 290,000 car- loads in January. The amount of freight loaded into these cars totalled 23.7 million tonnes, up 6.3 per cent from the same month last year.
Intermodal freight loadings rose 7.2 per cent to 191,000 units from January 2016 to January 2017. The increase stemmed from a 6.9 per cent gain in containers-on- at-cars and a 22.1 per cent gain in trailers-on- at-cars. In terms of weight, intermodal traffic rose 9 per cent to 2.9 million tonnes.
Freight traffic received from the United States rose 10.1 per cent to 2.7 million tonnes as a result of an 11.5 per cent increase in non-intermodal freight and a 4.8 per cent decline in intermodal freight from the United States.