Why a Canadian freight rail halt would roil North American supply chains

Open this photo in gallery: Railway cars crowd the CN Rail freight depot in Hamilton, Ont., on Aug. 19.Carlos Osorio/Reuters Canada's two main freight rail companies are set to lock out around 10,000 of their Canadian unionized workers on Thursday at 12:01 a.m. ET (0401 GMT), starting an unprecedented simultaneous work stoppage that would grind almost all railway freight movement in the country to a halt. How integrated are the rail networks across North America? Canadian National Railway Co CNR-T and Canadian Pacific Kansas City CP-T have said their rail networks south of the border will continue to operate, but…