CN builds on a boxcar program - Rail Update - Brief Article

Railway Age, Dec, 2003

CN is constructing 100 new Plate F boxcars for transporting high-quality paper products at its long-dormant Transcona Shops complex in Winnipeg, and will construct a second series of 100 boxcars beginning in first-quarter 2004.

Each car is 58 feet long, 17 feet high, and 10 feet, 8 inches wide. Empty weight is 73,600 pounds. Fully loaded, each car weighs 286,000 pounds. Construction of the cars, which is being handled by 140 CN employees, began in September, and the first 100mnit batch will be completed by the end of this month. The final 100-car batch will be completed by April, 2004. These will be the final cars constructed under this program, as CN's fleet of these particular cars "will be sufficient to meet customer needs," CN said.

"This is the first car construction program at CN's Transcona shops in several years," said CN Vice-President Engineering, Mechanical, and Supply Management Sameh Fahmy. "Our employees rose to the challenge and will bring the first 100 cars into service on time and on budget. Consequently, CN decided to build the second 100 car batch needed to bring this fleet up to the required size, on the same assembly line in Transcona."

CN commemorated the role played by the late Terry Smith in bringing the construction project to Transcona. Smith, who served as shops superintendent at the time of his death in March of this year, "developed a convincing case that showed that this work should be done at Transcona, instead of being contracted out to an outside company," said Fahmy. "These cars will be a lasting legacy to his memory, and to the contribution he made to CN and Transcona Shops."