CP Rail sees no real Canada recovery till mid-2010

* CEO sees no "green shoots" in Canadian economy

* Grain shipments strong but retail, timber, potash slow

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept 8 (Reuters) - There are no signs yet that an economic recovery is under way in Canada, the chief executive of Canada's second biggest railroad said on Tuesday, predicting a rebound was at least nine months away.

"I am not seeing any evidence anywhere that would cause me to believe that there is a substantive, sustained recovery under way ... I don't personally believe yet that we are done on the downside," said Fred Green, chief executive of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd (CP.TO).

"I am looking at the second half of 2010 before I think that we will see any growth," Green told a transportation conference in Toronto.

CP Rail, which competes with Canadian National Railway Co (CNR.TO), operates both in Canada and the northern United States, across broad swathes of the economy as it ships a variety of goods from grains to metals, timber and retail products.

Recent data shows Canada's gross domestic product grew a tiny 0.1 percent in June after 10 months of decline, confirming to some economists that the recession has bottomed out and that these early "green shoots" could put the economy on track for solid third-quarter gains.

"This green shoots thing is an interesting concept but I am not seeing any of it," Green said.

He said he was unsure whether CP Rail would experience its traditional "fall peak", when retailers bring in large volumes of imported goods in advance of the Christmas shopping season.

"The retail trade is struggling," he said.

As of the end of August, CP Rail's carloads were 19 percent to 20 percent below what they were a year ago. However, that was an improvement on the 32 percent year-on-year decline in the second quarter of this year.

As the company's business has suffered it has laid off well over 2,000 employees, parked 400 locomotives and idled thousands of rail cars.

On the bright side for the railway, Canada's grain crop looks strong this year, Green said, but potash shipments are not doing much right now.

"Our experience so far is that the potash business will be quiet for the month of September. We don't know about the fourth quarter," he said. (Reporting by Nicole Mordant; editing by Rob Wilson)