Canada unveils new rail safety legislation

Sponsored by Canada’s Minister of Transport Marc Garneau, the proposed Transportation Modernization Act (Bill C-49) calls for the installation of locomotive voice and video recorders in train cabs, and a new air passenger rights regime.    The Canadian government on Tuesday unveiled its proposed Transportation Modernization Act (Bill C-49).
   Sponsored by Minister of Transport Marc Garneau, the enactment amends the Canada Transportation Act with regard to rail and air transportation.
   One highlight of the legislation is that it proposes to amend the Railway Safety Act to mandate the installation of locomotive voice and video recorders (LVVRs) in locomotive cabs.
   The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) identified the need for in-cab voice and video recorders following a fatal accident in February 2012 in Burlington, Ontario, that killed three VIA Rail employees, Transport Canada said in a statement.
   In November 2016, Garneau announced his intention to make the installation and use of LVVRs mandatory, ensuring that the data could be used during accident investigations, while protecting the privacy of employees.
   Since fall of 2016, Transport Canada officials have met with key stakeholders and partners – including companies, unions and the TSB – to discuss the configuration of the equipment, scope of application, and how the information from the records would be used.
   The general consensus was that the safety benefits of LVVRs would be maximized if the recording could be used by railway companies and Transport Canada for proactive safety management, Transport Canada said.
   Under the proposed Transportation Modernization Act, LVVRs would only be used by the TSB, federally regulated companies and Transport Canada.
   Commenting on the video and voice surveillance mandate, Doug Finnson, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, said, “Marc Garneau’s proposal is an unprecedented violation of Canadian’s privacy. How could he possibly think that workers aren’t getting the short end of the stick?”
   In addition to LVVRs, Class I railway Canadian Pacific (CP) said the Transportation Modernization Act, “replaces temporary interswitching with long-haul interswitching, clarifies language around ‘adequate and suitable’ service, and retains the maximum revenue entitlement regime, with minor modifications.” CP said it believes the proposed legislation reduces uncertainty, and that it is “cautiously optimistic” it will lead to future development of the Canadian transportation system.
   The proposed Transportation Modernization Act would also lift ownership restrictions for Canada’s largest railway, Canadian National (CN), and major airlines like Air Canada to 25 percent from the current 15 percent, among a series of steps to open up competition in the country’s transport sector, according to a report from Bloomberg news service. In addition, the proposed bill’s changes to airline rules would open the door to joint ventures and codify a previously announced hike in the foreign ownership limit of foreign carriers to 49 percent from 25 percent.
   In addition, the Transportation Modernization Act calls on the Canadian Transportation Agency to make regulations establishing a new air passenger rights regime.
   Air Canada said it “welcomes the government’s desire to establish air passenger rights that are clear, consistent, transparent and fair for passengers and air carriers industry-wide. We believe it is in the interest of all parties to create a more predictable and fair system that applies to all airlines operating in Canada, which is not currently the case.”
   Looking ahead, Air Canada said it “looks forward to participating in the consultation process relating to the new regulations over the coming months.”
   “We also encourage the government to address all aspects of the travel experience, particularly those beyond the control of airlines such as lengthy wait times for passenger screening and customs,” said Mike McNaney, vice president of industry, corporate and airport affairs at Canadian airline WestJet. “We believe that any effort to improve the guest’s travel experience must take into account all aspects of that experience, in particular those services provided by the federal government.”