CN announced it will acquire 350 premium boxcars to serve growing demand from industrial customers across its North American network.

“These additional boxcars, combined with our new locomotives, hundreds of new train crew members, and track expansion investments, will help give us the capacity and network resiliency we need for pulp, paper and metals customers,” said Doug MacDonald, vice president of bulk at CN.

The leased 50-foot, high-capacity plate F boxcars, equipped with 12-foot plug doors, are expected to be delivered beginning in late summer with all the cars in service by the end of 2018.

As part of CN’s $3.2 billion capital program in 2018, the company is investing in new trade-enabling infrastructure this spring and summer, building new track and yard capacity to handle increased traffic across CN’s West Coast to Chicago corridor more efficiently. After adding approximately 400 conductors to the field so far this year, CN continues to hire with a particular focus on crews in Western Canada.