(Canadian National)
CN presently
offers two-hour appointment windows between 20:00 and 04:00. During the remainder of the day, the appointment windows are one hour. Based on the experience to date, drivers arriving during the morning are
arriving on time. Generally these are the first runs of the day for the drivers and the challenges resulting from traffic and customer's loading patterns have not yet started. Changing the morning windows
from say one-hour windows handling 50 trucks each to two-hour windows handling 100 trucks each will run the risk of too many of the 100 drivers arriving at the start of the window. This would flood the
terminal and reduce the level of service.
Drivers arriving throughout the afternoon experience different challenges. These challenges tend to smooth the arrival pattern of the drivers so the risk of
too many drivers arriving at the start of the window is reduced. After discussion with the Container Carriers Association, CN will expand the appointment windows. Effective Wednesday June 15, appointment
windows between 14:00 and 04:00 will be increased to two hours (i.e. appointments will be valid from 14:00 - 15:59, 16:00 - 17:59, etc.).
Tips
Your gate appointment is like an airline ticket - just as the passenger to be boarded
must be the same one as listed on the ticket so must a driver arriving at CN Brampton do exactly what is described on the appointment. If the intent is to have one driver drop two-20ft containers at the same
time, or to drop one container and pickup one container during the same trip, please ensure they are booked as one appointment. If additional explanation is required, please call the IMX support line at
866-851-7837.
CN's main operating system is scheduled for maintenance at 05:00 on Sunday mornings, generally lasting one to three hours. During this period no trucks can be processed at the Brampton
gate. To minimize delays, customers making appointments in the 00:01 - 07:59 window should plan to have their terminal work completed before 05:00. Moving forward, the "Terminal Message" feature on
the Gate Appointment Request screen will be used to provide updates.
The effective and expiry times of all appointment windows are shown as part of the appointment. In most instances, there is a small
courtesy buffer period on either side of the window. If the appointment window extends past train cut-off, the window will be truncated for a container to be delivered for train cut-off. Train cut-off times
are:
* Port of Halifax/Saint John - 20:00
* Port of Montreal - 13:00
* Vanterm/Centerm/Fraser Surrey - 20:00
* Robert's Bank/Elizabeth Marine Terminals NJ - 06:00
As we continue to
tweak the system feedback is required from users to identify problems from the users' perspective. Any user identifying system issues is asked to forward them to imx-osm@cn.ca
so they can be investigated. Also the IMX Support line (866-851-7837) is available to assist as required.
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