Written by Bruce E. Kelly, Contributing Editor, Railway Age Magazine; November 6, 2017
As I stated in my blog about Hunter Harrison earlier this year, the numerical “success” he was credited with during his time at Canadian Pacific would not have been possible without the hard work, tough decisions, and massive investments in property made by his predecessors.
Were it not for the nine-mile tunnel that CP chiseled through the Selkirk Mountains at Rogers Pass in the 1980s, as well as the reduction of westbound grades at Rogers Pass, Kicking Horse Pass, and Notch Hill (grades ranging from 1.6% to 2.2% being brought down to 1%), CP today would be ill-suited to compete with its neighbors to the north (CN) and south (BNSF, Union Pacific)—let alone serve its customers efficiently—in hauling grain, potash, coal and crude toward Pacific terminals.
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