Canada's 2 largest railways moved record amount of grain in April

Canada's two largest railways say they moved a record amount of grain out of Western Canada in April.

Canadian National Railway says it shipped 2.72 million tonnes of grain, while Calgary-based rival Canadian Pacific Railway says it moved 2.64 million tonnes.

Montreal-based CN says its grain shipments for the month compared with a three-year average of 2.23 million tonnes.

Allen Foster, CN's vice-president of bulk, says the 21.1 million tonnes of grain moved in the first nine months of the crop year was 8.2 per cent or 1.6 million tonnes above the three-year average.

Meanwhile, CP Rail says its April shipments beat the previous monthly high from last October. Train lengths and weights were the best April in the railway's history.

Both railways also say they have ordered new hopper cars to support increased capacity.