CN Rail is celebrating the fact they've broken their April record moving grain in Western Canada.

CN Rail Executive Vice-President of Corporate Services and Chief Legal Office, Sean Finn, says after some difficult weeks in February and March, there was some catching up to do.

In the Rail Company's May Grain Plan Update, they say extreme cold gripped Quebec, Ontario and the Prairie provinces over the winter, forcing them to shorten train lengths in temperatures below minus 30, and halt operations at night for the safety of employees when temperatures dropped to minus 40.

"In the weeks that we're catching up, we put more capacity in there, and because the grain is ready to be moved, we can meet it," he said. "The supply chain works well. When we're loading effectively at the elevator, and we have good transit times from the elevators to either Vancouver or Thunder Bay which is now reopened, this supply chain can really move a lot of grain."

Finn says their investments in infrastructure have made for faster recovery times after challenging periods.

The Grain Plan reports CN Rail moved  2.72 million metric tonnes (MMT) in April, compared to 2.56 MMT during April 2018 and the three-year average of 2.23 MMT.

CN Rail has moved 21 million metric tonnes of grain this crop year, which exceeds last year's performance and the three year average.

Finn says they saw slower demand for grain movement in May as farmers were busy getting their crops planted, but they'll be seeing increased demand now that seeding is wrapping up.