Canada railway shutdown order ‘unprecedented’: tribunal [Video]

MONTREAL –

Canadian National Railway Co. felt the heat of wildfires and labour disputes last quarter, as the company looks to rebound from the resulting cargo backlogs and lost business.

The slower freight flow and higher costs associated with July’s devastating forest fire in Jasper, Alta., and CN’s coast-to-coast work stoppage in August tamped down third-quarter profits by two per cent year-over-year, the company said Tuesday.

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“The Alberta wildfires came with some additional expenses which, combined, came through in our margin performance this quarter,” CEO Tracy Robinson told analysts on a conference call.

Executives noted that the railway’s busiest corridor runs through Jasper, which saw a third of its buildings reduced to rubble and ash.

“There was a two-day period when the fires were burning that we just couldn’t run any trains at all” — though two …