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.