The Government of Canada on Jan. 9 announced several amendments to the country’s Transportation Information Regulations to increase supply chain transparency and strengthen the accountability of freight rail service providers by requiring major railways to provide Transport Canada with enhanced service and performance information.
Major railways will also provide Transport Canada with additional data to support targeted public policy and other regulatory purposes, including waybill information such as origin, destination, and weight; and traffic data such as number of carloads, goods, and car types.
“Moving Canadian goods to market efficiently is vital for Canada’s future economic success,” said Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra. “Ensuring access to detailed service and performance information for Canada’s railway sector is another way we are contributing to building even more productive exchanges among supply chain members. This also reflects our commitment to strengthening Canada’s supply chain and improving our economy.”
The amendments were made in response to issues raised in Canada’s National Supply Chain Task Force’s Final Report, a 50-page document published in October 2022 that suggested both short- and long-term actions to address rail service reliability, labor shortages, capacity constraints, infrastructure needs, and regulatory uncertainty caused by shifts in governance.
Transport Canada said these changes will come into force on April 4 this year, and will significantly expand upon the service and performance data currently collected following the implementation of the Transportation Modernization Act of 2018, which introduced temporary requirements for major railways to submit service and performance information.
The amendments will replace the temporary provisions under the Transportation Modernization Act,with requirements for freight railroads to submit “new, timely, and more robust service and performance information,” which will be published weekly on the Government of Canada’s Transportation Data and Information Hub.
The amendments were applauded by Fertilizer Canada, which provided recommendations to the task force. Just this week, fertilizer industry participants told Green Markets that delays in rail shipments of grain have reduced the amount of on-farm storage available for pre-spring fertilizer blends.
“Fertilizer Canada supports Transport Canada’s amendments to the Transportation Information Regulations, which will provide greater transparency for rail service and better data to inform government and industry decision-making,” said Karen Proud, President and CEO of Fertilizer Canada.
“This is a positive step in strengthening Canada’s supply chains, however, this does not address the critical issue of disruptions, including labor and jurisdictional issues,” Proud continued. “To ensure Canada remains to be seen as a reliable trading partner and Canadians have access to reliable, economically priced goods, the government must continue to expeditiously implement other supply chain initiatives, including the recommendations from the Final Report of the National Supply Chain Task Force.”