Canadian Pacific Railway plans to deploy 1,300 managers to keep trains running following a union notice that track maintenance workers will strike this week.

CP's 3,200 track maintenance and expansion employees, who have been without a contract since December, said they plan to strike at midnight Tuesday after their union gave the company 72 hours notice of their strike intentions.

Talks between the union representing employees and the company, which have been ongoing for 10 months, broke off Thursday.

A strike wouldn't affect traffic on the railway's main lines, but branch-line operations could be affected, CP spokesman Mark Seland said. The company is considering alternate routes, or even hiring trucks, he said.

Union representative Bill Brehl said he expects traffic to drop by 80 per cent, adding that he couldn't imagine how the replacement workers will be able to keep up the workload safely.