MONTREAL — In a move similar to Amtrak’s efforts to address issues with host railroads with the Surface Transportation Board, VIA Rail Canada has asked the Canadian Transportation Agency to impose a new track access agreement with Canadian National Railway.
But VIA’s filing, made in June 2023, has gone nowhere, the Canadian Press reports, in part because a request for confidentiality for parts of CN’s response is still being considered.
The Canadian Transportation Agency describes itself as an “independent, quasi-judicial tribunal and economic regulator” that rules on a wide range of air, rail, and marine matters. VIA’s filing with the agency reflects a section of the Canada Transportation Act that says matters that can be submitted to the agency for arbitration include a “railway company’s obligations, if any, with respect to a public passenger service provider.”
VIA told the agency that its “captive client” status and CN’s “quasi-monopolistic position” means CN can prioritize its operations over those of the passenger trains, and that a Montreal-Toronto trip that once took four hours took an average of 5 hours, 33 minutes as of 2022. CN said in a statement to the Canadian Press that it is in compliance with its current agreement with VIA, which includes no provisions regarding speedy travel, saying the dispute is “the result of VIA looking for improved performance at lower cost to them, with increased costs to CN” to maintain routes to meet passenger needs.
The dispute comes against a backdrop of a more recent CN-VIA conflict over operation of the passenger company’s Venture equipment in Quebec-Ontario corridor service. CN has imposed new speed restrictions on the Venture trainsets at some grade crossings, citing unspecified issues with crossing-gate activation [see “VIA Venture slowdown limited …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 17, 2024]. VIA has subsequently asked a federal court to review those restrictions [see “VIA goes to court …,” News Wire, Nov. 13, 2024].
The VIA-CN issues also come as the Canadian government considers a slow-moving proposal to create a passenger-only “high-frequency rail” route between Toronto and Quebec City, although media reports now indicate the government is now leaning toward proposing a true high speed rail project.
This is what “regulatory capture” looks like, same in the US with Amtrak. Gone are the days of 12 car CN rapides. The notion that flying Dorval to Pearson with the associated trip to/from the airport and security is better than a 1967 Rapido with a parlor and full diner is progress is ridiculous.