A New Train of Thought: The Dynamics and Inherent Politics of Rail Freight Transportation in Canada

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the origins, status and results of key railway regulatory and service changes and to suggest future priorities. It includes a retrospective analysis of railway regulatory changes and sector performance in Canada over the past seven decades and of critical performance improvements. These improvements, coupled with and supported by government policy changes, enabled new rail sector growth and provided important context for another section of this paper – a forward-looking discussion on “what next?” - for the rail industry in Canada, from both a public and private sector perspective. While progress has been made, the paper identifies a number of issues and challenges which may impact negatively on the rail sector’s future potential growth and hinder continued expansion of new trade opportunities and service improvements for shippers.

• Record URL:
  http://ctrf.ca/?page_id=3310
• Corporate Authors:

  Canadian Transportation Research Forum

  ,    
• Authors:
  • MULDER, N
  • Toner, P
  • CARTWRIGHT, P
• Conference:
  • Canadian Transportation Research Forum 50th Annual Conference - Another 50 Years: Where to From Here?//Un autre 50 ans : qu'en est-il à partir de maintenant? Montreal, Quebec, May 24-26, 2015
• Publication Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Pagination: 1 PDF file, 303 KB, 12p.
• Monograph Title: Canadian Transportation Research Forum 50th Annual Conference - Another 50 Years: Where to From Here?//Un autre 50 ans : qu'en est-il à partir de maintenant? Montreal, Quebec, May 24-26, 2015

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Conferences; Economic efficiency; Evaluation; Freight transportation; History; Legislation; Policy; Railroad transportation; Safety
• Geographic Terms: Canada
• ITRD Terms: 8018: Canada; 8525: Conference; 237: Economic efficiency; 9020: Evaluation (assessment); 1112: Freight transport; 9096: History; 1556: Legislation; 173: Policy; 1173: Rail bound transport; 1665: Safety
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; History; Policy; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; I10: Economics and Administration; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01605007
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transportation Association of Canada (TAC)
• Files: ITRD, TAC
• Created Date: Jul 26 2016 5:03PM