5 January 2000

BC Rail Lockout Ends

While the terms of the agreement between BC Rail and its unions were not released, the dispute was ended today (5 January). The lockout shut down operations at Canada's third-largest rail carrier, disrupted shipments of lumber and coal, and temporarily raised the cost of shipping BC lumber to the US.

The extra expense amounted to approximately $500 (Canadian) for forest-product loads that normally cost about $825 to move from the interior and north of BC to CN and CP rail points, and to the BNSF in Vancouver. Forest industry shipments constitute two-thirds of BC Rail's activity.