The Railway Safety Act was implemented in 1989. It sets the regulatory framework for addressing rail safety, security and some of the environmental impacts of rail operations in Canada. While the Railway Safety Act was amended in 1999, since then the Canadian rail industry has changed significantly. Rail operations have become increasingly complex, and rail traffic is growing rapidly. Over the last year, railways moved approximately 72 million passengers and 66 per cent of all surface transportation freight in Canada.
In February 2007, the Minister of Transport launched a full review of the operation and efficiency of the Railway Safety Act through an independent advisory panel. Consultations were conducted in communities across Canada with railway companies and their industry associations, railway customers, municipal, provincial and territorial governments, aboriginal, environmental, and emergency response groups, other federal departments and agencies, and the public. Before finalizing its report (Stronger Ties: A Shared Commitment to Railway Safety), the panel met with a cross-section of stakeholders to determine if there were major objections. Generally, stakeholders were supportive of the recommendations. The findings indicated that the Railway Safety Act is fundamentally sound and that there have been positive efforts to improve rail safety, but more needs to be done. The advisory panel's final report of March 2008 included 56 recommendations for improving rail safety, some of which required legislative changes to the Railway Safety Act.
The Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities also studied rail safety and issued its own report in May 2008. It included 14 additional recommendations, many building on the recommendations from the Railway Safety Act review.
The Government of Canada has addressed the recommendations of both reports and amended the Railway Safety Act to further improve rail safety in Canada.
The amended Railway Safety Act will encourage rail companies to create and maintain a culture of safety and penalize rule breakers by enabling the Government of Canada to:
- require railway companies to obtain a safety-based Railway Operating Certificate and to submit environmental management plans;
- crack down on rule breakers with tough new monetary penalties and increased judicial penalties;
- create whistleblower protection for employees who raise safety concerns;
- require each railway to have an executive legally responsible for safety; and
- emphasize the central importance of safety management systems.
The amendments received Royal Assent on May 17, 2012 and will come into force on May 1, 2013.
April 2013
