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Regulated Interswitching: Proposed Changes To Rate-Setting And Billing

The consultation is now concluded. Here's What We Heard

On August 28, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) launched consultations on changes it proposes making to the Railway Interswitching Regulations in an effort to ensure that regulated interswitching rates remain simple, fair, and accurate, and that billing is transparent.

Our consultation paper discusses the proposed changes in detail and also asks questions that you can answer about each of them. There are four proposals in total:

  • To simplify interswitching, there would be one zone with one rate.
  • To keep rates fair for high-volume shippers, there would be one block rate for 60-99 cars, and a new, lower rate for blocks of 100 cars or more.
  • To be accurate, we would define "car". It would be clear that for interswitching intermodal traffic, “car” includes “platform”.
  • To be transparent, railway companies would have to show the regulated interswitching rate on the waybill.

We recognize that these are difficult and unusual times, with people and businesses affected in many different ways by the pandemic. At the same time, we continue to look for and value feedback on important rail sector issues. If you have answers to the questions in our paper, or other comments you would like to make, we would welcome them. You can send them to us at ferroviaire-rail@otc-cta.gc.ca by October 27, 2020.

Confidential Information

If your input contains information you believe should be treated as confidential, you must give us two copies of it, as follows:

  1. One copy (the public version) from which the confidential information has been blacked out.
  2. One copy (the confidential version) in which:
    • each page is marked “contains confidential information” at the top; and
    • you highlight or otherwise identify on each page the confidential information that was blacked out in the first copy. 

We will post the public version on our website, and keep the confidential one for our own use only. However, all input we receive is subject to the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act. We will protect the confidentiality of your information in accordance with these Acts, but those Acts can require us to release information if someone requests it, with some exceptions.

Reference material

Written submissions

Disclaimers

Third-party information liability disclaimer

Some of the information on this web page has been provided by external sources. The Agency is not responsible for the accuracy, reliability or currency of the information supplied by external sources. Content provided by external sources is not subject to official languages, privacy and accessibility requirements.

Privacy notice; submission language and accessibility

During the CTA's Public Consultation period, individuals and organizations were invited to submit comments. In the interest of transparency, all of the submissions that the CTA received have been posted with its original content. For accessibility purposes, the CTA has converted all documents to PDF.

   
Canadian Canola Growers Association - October 26, 2020
(PDF ; 142 kb)
Canadian National Railway - October 27, 2020
(PDF ; 481 kb)
Canadian Pacific - October 27, 2020
(PDF ; 608 kb)
Canadian Oilseed Processors Association - October 27, 2020
(PDF ; 168 kb)
Chemtrade
(PDF ; 250 kb)
Fertilizer Canada - October 27, 2020
(PDF ; 200 kb)
Forest Products Association of Canada - October 27, 2020
(PDF ; 323 kb)
Government of Saskatchewan - October 27, 2020
(PDF ; 271 kb)
McMillan - October 27, 2020
(PDF ; 142 kb)
Saskatchewan Mining Association- October 27, 2020
(PDF ; 219 kb)
Western Canadian Shippers’ Coalition - October 27, 2020
(PDF ; 136 kb)
Western Grain Elevator Association - October 27, 2020
(PDF ; 28 kb)

Milestones

DateStatus
Friday, October 30, 2020
We are analyzing the input.
Date modified: