RISING exports to Asia have prompted the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) to consider the introduction of 91 locomotives and 3,300 new employees, said CP president and CEO Fred Green, reported the Calgary Herald.

    The Calgary-based railway is to spend C$1 billion (US$960 million) on capital investment on secondary lines, sidings and extensions to meet the growing demand from Asia's export market.

    "Anything going west off the coast is actually quite robust," Mr Green said, particularly agriculture products, potash, coal and oil. "Anything oriented to the retail sector, because of consumer confidence ... would leave us a little bit uncomfortable with the ability for that business to grow in any substantive way for the foreseeable future," he added.

    CP aims to enhance customer service and real-time shipping information and invest in predictive technology to improve service times across its network, Mr Green outlined at a speech made to Canada Maritime Conference in Montreal, where CP's head office was previously located.

    It also will provide longer trains with distributed power for safer and more efficient operations, and create transport contracts with commercial service agreements signed with supply chain partners.

(source:http://www.shippingonline.cn/news/newsList.asp?classname=News)