TORONTO, Ont.– CN has announced a C$12-million program to increase the container-handling capacity of its Brampton Intermodal Terminal (BIT) by one-quarter.

BIT – Canada’s largest intermodal terminal – handled almost 660,000 intermodal units in 2006.

Planned improvements for the Toronto, Ont.-area facility will include additional pad capacity for loading and unloading intermodal trains within the terminal, and steps to improve truck throughput. Work should be completed by late summer of this year.

James Foote, CN executive vice-president, Sales and Marketing, said: “Intermodal – rail transportation of containers and truck trailers – is CN’s fastest growing business segment. Our investments in new terminal capacity at BIT will allow CN to capture more of this business and deliver better service to our customers through more timely availability of loads at the terminal.

“This project reflects CN’s intense focus on asset utilization. We’re targeting capital on key capacity and process improvements that will allow us to take an existing asset and boost its capacity by one-quarter. That’s smart railroading.”

CN’s IMX (Intermodal Excellence) program was launched in 2003 and includes gate and train slot reservations for containers and trailers at BIT, along with alternative storage locations for import/export containers.

In another CN productivity initiative, BIT’s chassis pool for local delivery and pick up of containers has benefited from improved cycle times as a result of the installation last year of radio frequency identification tags on the 2,000-unit fleet, the company claims.