TORONTO -- One of Canada’s two major freight railroads resumed operating Friday, bringing an end to a stoppage that threatened the economy across North America.

Canadian National trains resumed operations at 7 a.m. across Canada, according to CN spokesperson Jonathan Abecassis.

Trains operated by Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. remain idle, as the union representing the railway's 10,000 employees plans to challenge a government directive to enter arbitration to resolve a labor dispute.

The Teamsters Union stated that the work stoppage continues, pending a decision from the Canada Industrial Relations Board. Another hearing was scheduled for Friday morning, but the timeframe for the board's ruling remains unclear.

The Canadian government compelled the country's two main railroads into arbitration with their labor union late Thursday afternoon, a move intended to avoid potentially serious economic repercussions across the country and in the U.S. if the trains were to be out of service for an extended period.

The government's action came more than 16 hours after Canadian National and CPKC locked out workers due to a labor agreement stalemate. Both railroads said they would work to get trains moving again as soon as possible.

The unprecedented work stoppage prompted Canada's labor minister to refer the dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board for binding arbitration. Union and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. officials met with the board on Thursday and will meet again on Friday.

CPKC said it was ready to discuss resuming service at the meeting with the CIRB, but the union refused and wants to make submissions to challenge the constitutionality of Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon's directive.

The union representing 10,000 engineers, conductors and dispatchers at Canadian National and CPKC Canada reacted angrily to the order on Thursday, accusing the railroads of deliberately creating a crisis to force government intervention.

Christopher Monette, spokesperson for Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, indicated that the union intends to file its challenge to the order as soon as feasible, although the exact timeline for this action is uncertain. In the meantime, the union is planning a rally outside CPKC headquarters in Calgary on Friday morning. This event will feature Sean O'Brien, head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the leadership of Teamsters Canada.

As of Friday morning, it remained unclear whether union members would resume work on CPKC lines while their legal challenge to the minister's order progresses through the courts.

The government mandated arbitration between the railroads and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference to resolve the lockout that commenced at 12:01 a.m. Thursday after negotiations between the two parties failed to reach a contractual agreement.

“The CIRB is addressing the Minister’s referrals under section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, involving CN, CPKC, and TCRC, with utmost urgency. Case management conferences were held last evening, and a hearing is currently underway. At this time, no further comments can be provided regarding these proceedings,” stated Jean-Daniel Tardif, spokesperson for the board.

The rail stoppage, which began on Thursday, brought to a halt all of Canada's freight handled by rail, representing over $1 billion Canadian (US$730 million) in daily value and exceeding 375 million tons of freight transported last year. This included the interruption of rail shipments crossing the U.S. border. Approximately 30,000 commuters in Canada were also affected as their trains utilize CPKC's lines. However, CPKC and CN's trains continued operating in the United States and Mexico during the lockout.

Numerous companies, both domestically and internationally across all industries, rely on railroads to transport their raw materials and finished goods. The recent rail service disruption caused significant concern among these businesses, as billions of dollars worth of merchandise are transported between Canada and the United States via rail each month, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

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Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska.