In an effort to narrow the gap with rival CN Rail, Canadian Pacific Railway has announced job cuts of more than 400 positions, mostly white-collar positions.

According to reports, CPR will reduce the white-collar workforce by 15 percent, many of whom were non-unionized workers that transferred from Montreal, Quebec, to Calgary, Alberta, in 1996 at the time when the railroad relocated its corporate offices.

CPR plans on carrying out much of the reduction through attrition and through offering buyout packages, while others are expected to be offered early retirement incentives. All of the layoffs and job cuts in this round will be complete by the end of January.

At least 140 workers have already been or will be laid off from the operations side. These workers include train crew positions, carpenters, maintenance workers and other 'running trade' positions. These positions are not permanent cuts and could be brought back with any upturn in business.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union is bearing the brunt of the crew layoffs. Union president Gilles Halle said he expects that most of his members will return to work by this spring because demand is still generally strong for rail services, but managers who remain will have to step up their productivity and adjust to a heavier work load.