CN will acquire 350 boxcars to serve an increase in demand from industrial customers across the Class I’s North American network.

Equipped with 12-foot plug doors, the leased, 50-foot, high-capacity plate F boxcars are expected to be delivered beginning in late summer with all the cars in service by the end of the year, CN officials said in a press release.

“These additional boxcars, combined with our new locomotives, hundreds of new train crew members, and track expansion investments, will help give us the capacity and network resiliency we need for pulp, paper and metals customers,” said Doug MacDonald, vice president of bulk at CN.

The boxcar purchase is part of a broader effort by CN to address service demand. As part of CN’s CA$3.2 billion capital program in 2018, the Class I is investing in new trade-enabling infrastructure this spring and summer, and building new track and expanding yard capacity to handle increased traffic across its West Coast-to-Chicago corridor more efficiently, company officials said.

After adding 400 conductors to the field so far this year, CN continues to hire with a particular focus on crews in western Canada.