CPR claims new newsprint industry standard with high-capacity boxcars

Canadian Pacific Railway says its new fleet of 625 high-capacity boxcars for paper rolls is setting a new performance standard in the industry.

The cars, with 25 per cent more capacity, were built to meet tough new performance specifications developed by CPR after consultation with shippers and receivers. According to CPR, they are the first boxcars designed specifically to handle newsprint and other rolled paper, and are the first modern-day paper cars built with damage-free handling and high load capacity as the mainobjectives.

With their higher capacity, CPR has been able to eliminate 800 older paper boxcars from its fleet and replace them with the 625 new cars -a net reduction of 175 boxcars — without losing a single ton of capacity.

The new boxcars have a payload capacity in excess of 200,000 lbs. While other railcars have similar capacity, their design characteristics limit the number of rolls they can carry. They are full before reaching their weight limit and usually carry no more than about 165,000 lbs. CPR’s new car eliminates this wasted capacity and is the only car on the market that can load 50-inch newsprint rolls to the car’s full payload capacity.

Reliable service and damage-free delivery are among the biggest issues in the paper industry. Damaged rolls can upset inventory balance and delay press production.

Star-Tribune with 50-inch newsprint rolls, loaded the first prototype car more than a year ago. Bowater’s Thunder Bay mill experimented with loading and unloading patterns to help hone the car’s features and develop best practices and procedures for moving product in and out of the cars quickly and safely.

The mill was also actively involved in trial shipments. Darrell Watts,Superintendent Finishing, Shipping and Warehousing, said, “We were involved from start to end. Today, I’m getting 100 tons (of 50-inch rolls) in a car now versus 60 tons before.”

CPR’s new boxcars have over two feet of additional inside height and more than one foot of additional inside length than standard paper boxcars. Their low center of gravity allows for the extra height without sacrificing ride stability. With the extra space, loaders can triple-stack 50-inch paper rolls, which have emerged as the printing industry standard, and add another row.

Among the car’s damage-prevention features is longer end-of-car cushioning — a deeper shock absorber located behind the couplers. Improved wheel assembly design minimizes lateral and vertical forces during transit to prevent damage. Skylights provide greater visibility for safer loading and unloading.

CPR also worked with airbag manufacturers to design a better bag that, as it is inflated, moves the rolls into a secure position and keeps them stable during transit. The bag was built to restrain the heaviest of paper
rolls.

Since introducing the cars, CPR has seen a reduction in lading damage claims.