steveintoronto
Superstar
Dan:
I was just looking into that, and the ambiguity is my use of "chartered" as opposed to "licensed". As to "chartered":
http://www.businessedge.ca/archives/article.cfm/guelph-rail-terminal-promises-agrifood-synergy-8982
As for "licensed"...it seems the Province of Ontario strongly disagrees with your claim. "Short Line Railways" (and I posted reference to the Short Line Railway Act of Ontario prior) are the domain of the province unless they cross provincial borders.
Without delving further, my immediate impression is one I stated earlier: Either Transport Canada gets its 'act' in order, or the provinces will take their train sets and play with them as they wish at home. Ontario and Quebec *especially* have the power, once aspects of track separation are established, to do as they wish as long as it meets provincial law.[...]
Submission
To
Railway Safety Act Review Panel
From
Ministry of Transportation
August 17, 2007
The management of railway safety in Ontario
The Canada Transportation Act (1996, c.10) [CTA] provides for agreements between the Minister of Transportation (or a designate) and a provincial minister responsible for transportation matters concerning the administration of any law respecting railway safety, accident investigation and railway crossings.i
The Shortline Railways Act (S.O. 1995, c. 2) [SRA] provides for agreements between the Minister and the federal government or its agencies concerning the administration of the Act and the regulation of railway safety, accident investigation and railway crossings in relation to shortline railways and shortline railway companies.ii
Anchored by these legislative provisions, two agreements between the Minister of Transportation for Ontario and the Minister of Transport for Canada were signed in 1996. They are concerned with railway safety and railway crossings respectively in connection with short line railways licensed by Ontario.
i
157.1 (1) The Minister may enter into an agreement with a provincial minister responsible for transportation matters providing for the administration, in relation to persons who operate railways within the legislative authority of the province, of any law respecting railway safety, accident investigation and railway crossings.(2) The Minister may designate any body established under an Act of Parliament, or any person or class of persons employed in the public service of Canada, to administer the law in accordance with the agreement.(3) The designated body, person or class of persons may perform any function or duty and exercise any powers necessary for the enforcement of the law, to the extent specified in the agreement.
ii
Federal-provincial agreements
15. (1) The Minister may enter into agreements with the federal government or with any federal regulatory authority, person or class of persons concerning the administration of this Act and the regulation of railway safety, accident investigation and railway crossings in relation to shortline railways and shortline railway companies.
Enforcement, administration
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) the Minister may, by agreement, authorize any federal regulatory authority, person or class of persons to enforce and administer applicable federal law, as it exists from time to time, in relation to shortline railways and shortline railway companies in the same manner and to the same extent as the law applies to railways within federal jurisdiction or in accordance with any other terms as agreed upon. 1995, c. 2, s. 15.
In addition, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in the same year between the Ontario minister and the Chairperson of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) concerning the investigation of accidents that involve short line railways licensed by Ontario. Expenses incurred by federal agencies in providing services under these agreements are invoiced to Ontario, which in turn may invoice the individual railways.
Underlying the three agreements are several factors:
[...continues at length...]
- Ontario law has a provision for establishing short line railways under the jurisdiction of the province of Ontario;
- Ontario has chosen not to establish railway safety regimes that duplicate and paralell established and existing federal safety regimes for the 637 km of Ontario licensed rail lines (to put this in context, CNR and CPR operate a total of over 30,000 miles of rail lines); and
- To promote safety and uniformity and recognizing the body of knowledge and skills that exist within the federal government, Ontario has chosen to take advantage of the provisions in both provincial and federal legislation to contract with the federal government for safety related matters.
https://www.tc.gc.ca/media/documents/rsa-lsf/ontario.pdf
That means Crashworthiness, it means Signalling, it means CBTC, it means a lot of things. The report goes on to delineate who is under provincial purview and who isn't, and lot of operators in Ontario are under Ontario law, not Federal.
I can't avoid discussing the politics of this, as under the previous federal regime, where the Harper Gov't did everything within its power to *stymie* innovation and progressive ways of promoting passenger rail, the provinces would have had to have used the courts play the Harper game. I leave it at that, save that the Trudeau regime appears to be doing differently. Very much so, albeit the words have yet to see action.
Part of that action must be a radical review and updating of the Transportation and Railway Acts, and perhaps some others. to move this nation into the modern age.
