The Harper government says it will introduce an order-in-council forcing railways to move a minimum amount of grain each week.
Transport Minister Lisa Raitt says that minimum will be set at 500,000 tonnes, which works out to 5,500 grain cars each for Canadian National and Canadian Pacific.
Raitt says there will be penalties of up to $100,000 a day if CP and CN don't meet the requirement.
The government is giving the railways four weeks to ramp up to the minimum level.
A record harvest coupled with a transportation bottleneck has left grain sitting in bins across the Prairies. Last year's harvest was up by about 20 million tonnes.
Canada is at risk of losing its reputation around the world as a dependable supplier of grain if the backlog isn't addressed, she added.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, who was also at the news conference, said railway companies have "dropped the ball."
Raitt also said CN and CP did not get prior warning about the order.
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