Increasing demand for goods from China and other Asian countries has led to Canadian railways in 2005 carrying their heaviest freight load so far this decade. Statistics provided by the Canadian government show that there was a total loading of 287.2 million metric tonnes of goods in 2005, up 3.7 per cent or 10.4 million tonnes over 2004.
A statement from Statistics Canada said: 'New infrastructures, as well as collaborative agreements to optimize movements of cargo on an already busy transportation network, appears to have been beneficial. The results of these collective efforts became more obvious in the second part of the year, when loadings surpassed those of the first half thanks to the strongest fourth quarter since 1999'.
Intermodal loadings, which consist of containers from China and other Asia countries, together with trailers on flat cars, rose 4.5 per cent to 27.8 million metric tonnes.
A statement from Statistics Canada said: 'New infrastructures, as well as collaborative agreements to optimize movements of cargo on an already busy transportation network, appears to have been beneficial. The results of these collective efforts became more obvious in the second part of the year, when loadings surpassed those of the first half thanks to the strongest fourth quarter since 1999'.
Intermodal loadings, which consist of containers from China and other Asia countries, together with trailers on flat cars, rose 4.5 per cent to 27.8 million metric tonnes.