What Are the Benefits of Canadian Pacific Railway?

The Canadian Pacific Railway, which began operations in 1881, is a transcontinental railway headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. Most principle business centers in southern Canada, as well as several in the northern United States, are directly connected to the Canadian Pacific system.

The primary benefit of Canadian Pacific Railway is that it provides the means to ship vast quantities of merchandise freight, intermodal traffic, and bulk commodities across North America.

Merchandise freight, intermodal traffic, and bulk commodities transported by Canadian Pacific include coal, fertilizer, sulphur, grain, wheat, finished manufactured goods such as vehicles and parts, retail goods, industrial items, forest products, among others.

Canadian Pacific Railway Limited is a publicly traded company (symbol CP) with over 15,000 full-time employees. Due to the company’s operations across Canada and parts of the northern Midwest and Great Plains of the United States, Canadian Pacific has a prominent impact on many local economies.

Another benefit of Canadian Pacific Railway is the subsidiary businesses started or owned and operated at one point during the company’s history. Although many are no longer part of the current company, these subsidiaries included passenger rail service, Canadian Pacific Hotels, Canadian Pacific Airlines, telegraph, telephone, radio services, and steamship services. Such subsidiaries have added value and benefit to the local areas in which they operated.

A series of grand hotels, including Banff Springs Hotel and Chateau Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City, and Hotel Vancouver, were built by the railway, along its routes in the late 19th and early 20th century to promote tourism. Although the hotels, which now operate under the Fairmont name, are no longer owned by the railway, they remain among the most luxurious hotels in the world.