Canada’s two major freight railroads may stop Thursday if contract dispute isn’t resolved WSOC TV [Video]

TORONTO — (AP) — Canada’s two major freight railroads could halt their trains Thursday if they can’t agree to renewed contracts with the union representing their engineers, conductors and dispatchers. Canada’s government is watching closely and may intervene to prevent widespread damage to the economy.

Both Canadian National and CPKC have been gradually shutting down since last week ahead of the contract deadline of 12:01 a.m. Eastern Thursday, and all traffic will stop before then if this isn’t resolved. Shipments of hazardous chemicals and perishable goods were the first to stop, so they wouldn’t be stranded somewhere on the tracks.

As the Canadian contract talks were coming down to the wire, one of the biggest U.S. railroads CSX, broke with the U.S. freight rail industry’s longstanding practice of negotiating jointly for years with the unions. CSX reached a deal with several of its 13 unions that cover 25% of its workers ahead of the …