Photo: The Canadian Press

TORONTO — Business groups are calling on the federal government to take steps to immediately restore rail service that is being disrupted by anti-pipeline blockades.

Dennis Darby, CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, says the situation is “beyond serious.”

The group estimates that some $425 million worth of goods are becoming stranded every day the blockade continues.

Darby says that for every day of disrupted operation, it will take three to four days to make up for the lost time.

Maple Leaf Foods president Curtis Frank says Canada exports 60% of its pork products and urges the government to work with urgency to resolve the blockade.

Protesters have blocked rail lines in several parts of Canada to show solidarity with hereditary Wet’suwet’en chiefs opposed to construction of the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline through their traditional territories in northwestern B.C.