Canada's two main railways notched another record-setting quarter for grain shipments, benefiting from strong global demand, a bumper crop, efficient cars and more capacity due to smaller hauls of other products amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report’s findings state that no on-board derailment detection systems are currently in use in Canada.

CN Rail said about 20 cars went off the tracks near Hunter Creek, just west of Hope.

Mounties say the incident happened shortly after noon on Thursday on Road 52 West, just north of Highway 1 and around 20 km west of Portage la Prairie.

Safety board investigators examined more than two metres of CN track that were recovered from the scene near the community of MacGregor, about 120 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

Canada's two largest railways say they moved record quantities of grain in the second quarter after benefiting from another strong month in June.

TSB said Transport Canada needs to work with the rail industry to identify the cause of uncontrolled movements and develop strategies to reduce their occurrences.

CN Rail has cut its workforce by 5,800 employees or 21 per cent since May 2019, including 3,500 workers furloughed due to the pandemic, CEO JJ Ruest said.

CN crews were on-site Thursday morning responding to a minor derailment east of Saskatoon.

Even if the project succeeds, the trips between Montreal and Toronto may still take five hours, remaining slower than the express trains of the 90s and the early 2000s.