Canadian Rail Company to Cut 1,700 Jobs

Merry Christmas north of the border

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. Tuesday announced plans to eliminate 1,700 positions by the end of the year as a part of a number of moves to improve service and lower costs.

Canada's second-largest railroad said late Tuesday that the job cuts are part of bigger effort to eliminate 4,500 employee or contract positions, or about 23% of the railroad's head count, by 2016.

It marks the boldest move yet by the Calgary company's new chief executive, Hunter Harrison, who joined Canadian Pacific in June after U.S. activist investor Bill Ackman won a proxy battle to replace several of CP's board members with his own nominees.