On July 31 both CN Rail and CPKC railway published their grain plans for the 2025-26 crop year.

CN reported a record volume of Canadian grain and grain products delivered to both domestic and international markets this past crop year. Current projections suggest Western Canadian movement for 2024-25 will total approximately 31 metric million tonnes (MMT), roughly one million metric tonnes higher than the previous record.

Though the upcoming 2025-2026 crop year is expected to result in slightly lower volumes, CN Rail is targeting another strong year with the movement of approximately 27–29.5 MMT of grain and processed products for this year, supported by sufficient resources under normal conditions.

On their end, CPKC estimates they will have moved over 27 MMT Canadian grain and grain products for the 2024–25 crop year. This will be their highest volume transported since the 2020–2021 crop year, when CP broke its all-time, single-year volume record with 30.62 MMT.

CPKC’s Grain Service Outlook sets a capacity target of up to 34 million tonnes of Canadian grain and grain products, dependent on market demand and supply chain efficiency this year.

Highlights from CN`s 2025–2026 Grain Plan include:
– CN anticipates moving 27.0 to 29.5 million metric tonnes (MMT) of grain and processed grain products during the 2025–2026 crop year. The company has sufficient resources in place to meet demand under normal operating conditions.
-CN is changing the way it distributes empty hopper cars originating from West Coast ports to improve visibility and planning with customers. Instead of distributing cars from major rail hubs in the Prairies, CN will distribute cars as they depart Vancouver. Customers will also have enhanced visibility on tracking their rail shipments through CN’s rail shipment tracking tool.
-End-to-End Transparency: Through CN’s Western Canadian Grain Report and operational dashboards, stakeholders have access to weekly updates on car orders, supply chain conditions, and system fluidity.

Highlights from CPKC`s 2025-26 Grain Service Outlook
– CPKC plans to supply the capacity required to move up to 685,000 metric tonnes (“MT”) of Canadian agricultural products on average each week when the Port of Thunder Bay is open (generally from August through early January, and from April to July). During the winter months when the Port of Thunder Bay is closed, CPKC plans to supply the capacity required to move up to 525,000 MT on average each week, subject to market demand.
-CPKC expects to supply the capacity required to be able to transport up to 34 MMT of Canadian grain and grain products throughout the crop year under optimal conditions all around.
-CPKC’s will invest more than $500 million in high-capacity hopper cars and will take delivery of 100 new Tier 4 diesel-electric locomotives

Here are the full CN and CPKC reports to cheer your end of summer blues.