OTTAWA, (May 26, 2005) — Canada’s railways carried more freight during the first few months of 2005 than any period over the last five years, reports Statistics Canada.

Driven by strong demand for Canadian raw commodities in Asian markets, railways loaded more than 24.7 million metric tonnes of freight in March, a gain of 3.1 million tonnes or 14.1 percent from February. Loadings were up 1.3 percent over the same period last year.

During the first three months of the year, railways carried 67.6 million tonnes of freight, second only to the record high of 69.3 million tonnes set in the first quarter of 2000.

Loadings of coal, iron ore, potash, wheat and lumber continued to have the greatest influence on carloadings figures, according to Stats Can, accounting for just under 50 percent of all loadings in Canada.

The growing intermodal sector jumped by 10.9 percent to 2.4 million tonnes. while non-intermodal freight totalled 22.4 million tonnes in March, a 14.4 percent increase from the prior month. First-quarter results of 2005 show a 1.9 percent increase of non-intermodal traffic over the same period of last year, while intermodal traffic was up by 7.2 percent overall.

Freight coming from the U.S., either destined for or passing through Canada, reached 2.4 million tonnes, up 6.6 percent, Stats Can reports.