Canada’s two national railways don’t much like the federal govern-m e n t’s plans to implement rail freight service reform.
Both say additional regulation will damage the companies’ ability to compete and perform efficiently.
Canadian National Railway said it has “serious concerns” about the final report of the panel, released March 18.
CN is concerned that the government’s decision to consider tabling legislation based on the panel’s report could stifle innovation and competition in the global marketplace.
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“CN disagrees with the focus and tenor of the panel’s recommendations,” said president and chief executive officer Claude Mongeau.
Canadian Pacific Railway president and chief executive officer Fred Green said isolating the rail sector by imposing additional regulation is completely unwarranted.
“Isolating the rail sector will not produce the desired results,” he said.
Mongeau said CN considers the panel’s report a step backward toward re-regulation rather than encouraging the current momentum for positive change.
“The panel failed to recognize the significant positive change that has been taking place over the past two years to address key service issues,” including improved customer relations and new service initiatives and enhanced supply chain efficiency and transparency, said Mongeau.
The Rail Freight Service Review, which was launched in 2008 to investigate complaints from customers of CN and CPR about poor service, identified a wide range of concerns.
While acknowledging rail grain service has improved in recent times, at least on CN, the review panel and the federal government agreed that steps must be taken to fix things further. CN’s
Mongeau said the panel improperly focused its attention totally on performance by the railways, not the entire supply chain, while ignoring clear evidence that the railways’ so-called “market power” is a cause of service problems.
He said the railway looks forward to working with all stakeholders on the government’s commercially focused initiatives, including dispute resolution and data sharing.
Green said the devil will be in the details of whatever new regulations come out, and pledged to work with Ottawa to improve service reliability and ensure “equitable accountability” is achieved throughout the supply chain.
