Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) is a major railway owner and operator in Canada and the USA.
CP is planning the CP Logistics Park: Vancouver (CPLPV) for shipping agriculture, liquids, and automotive products by 2030 and asked Ausenco to estimate the project’s impact on regional locomotive CO2 emissions.
Client requirements
CP required an advanced team with highly capable tools to analyze large sets of historical data and capture all relevant railway traffic in a dynamic simulation model of CP’s entire lower mainland rail network, including:
- Millions of historical records
- Coquitlam Rail Yard
- 68 major train routes
The goal of the study was to quantify the project’s hopeful reduction of locomotive CO2 emissions in the region, while overcoming significant data complexity, capturing system dynamics, and forecasting locomotive fuel consumption as regional volumes increase dramatically in the coming decade to meet international demand.
Project solutions and approach
Using Ausenco’s Transportation and Logistics Simulator software, Ausenco built a dynamic simulation model of CP’s entire lower mainland rail network, including Coquitlam and CPLPV rail yards in detail.
We calibrated the model to match:
- Train composition and departure / arrival times for all routes
- Seasonal railcar inventory and dwell time in the Coquitlam Yard
- Inbound / outbound railcar volume balance regionally
Outcomes and achievements
Ausenco concluded that CPLPV will reduce regional CO2 emissions by 2,300 tonnes per year in 2030 compared to existing infrastructure in 2030, which is the equivalent of taking 500 passenger vehicles off BC roads.
Our other (preliminary) observations were:
- CPLPV has sufficient throughput capacity for the projected 2030 volumes based on the current design criteria
- CP’s Coquitlam Yard and lower mainland rail network mainline have sufficient storage capacity and throughput capacity respectively for the projected 2030 volumes
- Regional locomotive emissions benefits will improve by 2030 beyond those reported as CP continues modernizing their locomotive fleet through 2030