Minister of Transport announces requirement to provide more freight rail data to help strengthen Canada’s supply chain
The Minister of Transport announces new requirement for freight rail data to increase supply chain transparency
Press Release
Ottawa, Jan 9, 2023
The Government of Canada is taking concrete action to strengthen our
national supply chains and continue to build an economy that works for
everyone. Canada’s freight rail system is a key component of our supply
chains, moving more than 332 million tonnes of Canadian goods to market,
and into Canadians’ homes, each year.
Today, the Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, announced amendments to the Transportation Information Regulations to
increase supply chain transparency and create a better understanding of
the performance of Canada’s freight rail sector for the benefit of all
rail users.
These amendments aim to strengthen the accountability of freight rail
service providers, by requiring major railways to provide Transport
Canada with enhanced service and performance information. This
information will significantly enhance the value of the information
being collected and it will be published weekly on the Government of
Canada’s Transportation Data and Information Hub to provide Canadians with a better picture of end-to-end freight rail performance.
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, weight) and
traffic data (such as number of carloads, goods, and car types).
These changes will come into force on April 4, 2023, and will
significantly expand upon the service and performance data currently
collected following the implementation of the Transportation Modernization Act of 2018.
The amendments to the Transportation Information Regulations
are an important part of the Government of Canada’s response to the
issues raised in the National Supply Chain Task Force’s Final Report.
Read the full press release at the Canadian Government website.