Canadian Transportation Agency dismisses Running Rights applications
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OTTAWA - May 3, 2001 - In the matter of the applications of the Hudson Bay Railway Company (HBRC) and Ferroequus Railway Company Limited (FE) for open access running rights on railway lines owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway Company (CN) pursuant to section 138 of the Canada Transportation Act (CTA), the Canadian Transportation Agency (Agency), in Decisions No. 212-R-2001 and No. 213-R-2001 today announced that the applications are being dismissed as they are found to be beyond the scope of section 138 of the CTA.
A crucial part of the applications made in February of 2001 was the unprecedented request by the applicants for the right to solicit traffic as well as run trains on CN's railway lines. As part of its deliberation on these applications the Agency invited written submissions on the scope of section 138 of the CTA, as it pertained to these applications. Response was received from many industry participants, provincial governments and interested individuals and groups.
After a thorough consideration of the submissions and an extensive examination of the CTA, the Agency determined that while the National Transportation Policy contained in Section 5 of the CTA sets intramodal competition as an objective, it is not the only objective and an assessment of other considerations was required. As part of those considerations, the Agency examined the wording contained in section 138, the statutory context, the history of the provision, the intention of Parliament, and the impact of broad access on the host railway company and others.
The Agency concluded, after these considerations had been assessed, that the applications for running rights which included traffic solicitation - in effect making them applications for open access - were legally beyond the relief that could be granted by the Agency under section 138 of the CTA.
Copies of these Decisions are available on request at 819-997-0099.
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For more information please contact:
Michel Hébert
Director of Communications
Canadian Transportation Agency
819-953-7666
