CANADIAN RAILROADS WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN ITDS TEST

CANADIAN RAILROADS WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN ITDS TEST    'After much consideration, Canada’s two leading railroads have decided not to participate in the proposed October test of the International Trade Data System in Buffalo, N.Y.
   The U.S. government-backed system has been in development for several years. ITDS promises to link through the Internet as many as 100 federal agencies that have an interest in international trade data.
   “The concept makes sense, but it’s still unclear about how it would be applied,” said Len Podgurny, director of revenue management for Canadian National Railways.
   As the system’s design stands now, the railroads believe that too much information is required to process shipments efficiently, such as the recommendation to file rail crew details.
   “ITDS requests data that may be nice for the government to have, but it imposes a heavy burden on the carriers,” said George McBurney, manager of customs at Canadian Pacific Railway and chairman of the Railway Association of Canada’s Customs Committee. “We don’t want to participate in a system that may take a step backwards.”
   The railroads, along with the state transportation departments of New York, Michigan and North Dakota, have proposed that the U.S. Department of Transportation conduct a joint study with the industry under the auspices of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century to find ways to make the system more practical to use.
   Meanwhile, the ITDS board has asked the industry to make a list of suggestions to improve the functionality of the system.
   “We’ll continue to work at this,” said Sandra A. Scott, international trade and customs advocate for Roadway Express. “We just can’t create something that could add to the congestion at the border.”
   The Canadian railroads said they will also continue to participate in ITDS systems design. “It’s incumbent for us to be aware of what happens with ITDS,” Podgurny said. “We don’t want to be blindsided.”
   The next ITDS meeting will be held in Washington on Sept. 15. Industry officials aren’t counting on the system to be ready to test by October. The ITDS test in Buffalo may be delayed until later this year or early 2001.