The Plan (download below) is produced annually and mandated by Transport Canada.
Following are highlights of the 32-page 2025-26 Winter Plan:
- “Resilience Focused: CN embeds winter readiness into its operating model by planning and preparing throughout the year. This includes leveraging predictive analytics and automated inspection technologies to prevent disruptions and reinforcing its workforce to reduce delays and maintain network fluidity.”
- “Strategic Investment: With a capital program of more than C$3 billion in 2025, including approximately C$1.5 billion in Western Canada, CN is expanding key corridors, adding double-tracked sections, and upgrading major yards to boost capacity. [Among these projects: Two new sections of double track on CN’s Edson Subdivision west of Edmonton will increase capacity in that part of the network by 25%, and upgrades to Thornton Yard in Vancouver will help improve train flow to this key port.] Recent fleet renewal, with modernized locomotives and expanded rolling stock, ensures CN has the flexibility and resources to respond effectively to extreme weather.” According to the railroad, 170 locomotives have been converted from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC) traction since 2023, “improving performance, and reducing failures in extreme cold.” Thirty-two more are expected in the final months of 2025. “This will push the proportion of our high‑horsepower locomotive fleet using AC‑traction motors to about 60% and allow us to deploy 50 more locomotives in Western Canada this winter,” CN said. The railroad in 2024 added 750 new high‑efficiency hopper cars, 600 ore cars, and 300 bi‑level autoracks to the fleet, “supporting capacity and operational resilience.” Additionally, more than 2,800 wayside detectors, seven automated inspection portals, and 10 ATIP railcars generate millions of data points daily for predictive maintenance and safety, the railroad noted in the Plan.
- “Collaborative Solutions: CN works closely with ports, shippers, receivers, governments, and other railways to improve performance across the supply chain. Collaboration with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, for example, has already increased weekly train movements to and from North Vancouver by 10%. CN also partners directly with customers to enhance winter safety and preparedness at their facilities. This helps reduce service delays and optimize trade flows.”
CN reported that its workforce is currently “sized to demand.” To further support operations during challenging conditions and periods of high demand, the railroad said it has “increased our pool of rail operating rules‑qualified managers. By insourcing some of our core engineering work, we have also been able to achieve greater productivity, quality, cost control and a 6% reduction in train delays caused by engineering work.”
“The government of Canada has a critical role in enabling safe and reliable winter operations by addressing issues that create uncertainty and limit the railway’s ability to innovate and remain agile,” CN pointed out in the Plan. “This requires a stable, practical regulatory framework that supports labor productivity, avoids unnecessary burdens, and does not reintroduce extended interswitching. Proposed training and qualification regulations must also be balanced to ensure safety while protecting crew availability, particularly when resources are already stretched during winter. A government‑led, balanced approach to reporting—with real‑time data across all parts of the supply chain—would further improve transparency and help identify the root causes of disruptions when they occur. Additional resiliency can also be unlocked through timely capital investments in innovative technologies, processes, and infrastructure. To accelerate these projects, supportive tax policies and permitting processes as well as accelerated depreciation measures are essential.”
“Preparing for winter is part of what we do every year,” CN President and CEO Tracy Robinson commented. “Our Winter Plan lays out how our teams, assets, and processes are in place so we can deliver safe, reliable service and support our customers through the season.”
