Vol. 148, No. 17 — August 13, 2014

Registration

SOR/2014-190 August 1, 2014

CANADA TRANSPORTATION ACT

Regulations Amending the Transportation Information Regulations

P.C. 2014-893 July 31, 2014

His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Transport, pursuant to subsection 50(1) (see footnote a) of the Canada Transportation Act (see footnote b), makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Transportation Information Regulations.

REGULATIONS AMENDING THE TRANSPORTATION INFORMATION REGULATIONS

AMENDMENTS

1. (1) The definition “movement event” in section 8 of the Transportation Information Regulations (see footnote 1) the Regulations is replaced by the following:

“movement event” means

(2) Section 8 of the Regulations is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:

“Western Division” has the same meaning as in section 147 of the Act. (région de l’Ouest)

2. (1) The portion of subsection 10.1(1) of the Regulations before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

10.1 (1) A class I rail carrier that transports grain must provide to the Minister information in respect of the transportation of grain that includes, for each movement event,

(2) Paragraph 10.1(1)(d) of the Regulations is amended by striking out “or” at the end of subparagraph (iii), by adding “or” at the end of subparagraph (iv) and by adding the following after subparagraph (iv):

3. The Regulations are amended by adding the following after section 10.1:

10.2 (1) A class I rail carrier must provide to the Minister weekly information in respect of order fulfilment for grain shipments, including

(2) A class I rail carrier must provide to the Minister weekly information in respect of its covered hopper cars, including

(3) A class I rail carrier must provide to the Minister weekly information in respect of grain traffic, including

4. Section 12.1 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

12.1 A class I rail carrier must provide the information referred to in subsections 10.1(2) and (3) by no later than October 15 following the end of the crop year.

5. Subsection 12.2(4) of the Regulations is repealed.

6. The Regulations are amended by adding the following after section 12.3:

12.4. (1) A rail carrier referred to in column I of Schedule II.1 must provide to the Minister the details relating to the information required by subsection 10.1(1) and sections 10.2 and 12.2 that are provided for in the form referred to in column II for the reporting period set out in column III before the end of the day set out in column IV.

(2) If the form and manner of providing the details are set out in column V of Schedule II.1, a rail carrier referred to in column I must provide the details to the Minister in the form and manner set out.

12.5 (1) Canadian National Railway Company and Canadian Pacific Railway Company must each provide to the Minister the following information within one week after the end of a period referred to in an order made under subsection 116.2(2) of the Act:

(2) In this section, “grain” and “move” have the same meanings as in section 116.1 of the Act.

7. The portion of item 1 of Schedule I to the Regulations in column II is replaced by the following:

Item Column II

Form
1. The Enplaned / Deplaned Flight Centric Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014

8. The portion of items 3 to 5 of Schedule I to the Regulations in column II is replaced by the following:

Item Column II

Form
3. On-Board Coupon Origin and Destination Survey or The Enplaned / Deplaned Flight Centric Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014
4. The Enplaned / Deplaned Flight Centric Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014
5. The Enplaned / Deplaned Flight Centric Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014

9. The portion of item 18 of Schedule I to the Regulations in column II is replaced by the following:

Item Column II

Form
18. Aircraft Fleet and Fuel Consumption Report, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014

10. The portion of items 20 to 23 of Schedule I to the Regulations in column II is replaced by the following:

Item Column II

Form
20. Statement of Air Cargo Fluidity Indicators, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014
21. General Aviation Operational Survey (Detailed), included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014
22. General Aviation Operational Survey (Summary), included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014
23. General Aviation Financial Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014

11. Schedule II.1 to the Regulations is replaced by the Schedule II.1 set out in the schedule to these Regulations.

12. The portion of item 6 of Schedule III to the Regulations in column II is replaced by the following:

Item Column II

Form
6. Annual marine fleet inventory and fuel consumption survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014

13. The portion of item 1 of Schedule IV.1 to the Regulations in column II is replaced by the following:

Item Column II

Form
1. Annual Truck Fleet Inventory and Fuel Consumption Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014

14. The portion of items 1 to 4 of Schedule V.1 to the Regulations in column II is replaced by the following:

Item Column II

Form
1. Scheduled Intercity Bus Passenger Origin and Destination Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014
2. Passenger Motor Carrier Schedules Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014
3. Annual Bus Fleet Inventory and Fuel Consumption Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014
4. Scheduled Intercity Bus Freight and Parcel Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014

15. The portion of items 1 and 2 of Part I.2 of Schedule VI to the Regulations in column I is replaced by the following:

Item Column I

Form
1. Balance Sheet, Airport, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014
2. Income Statement, Airport, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014

16. The portion of items 1 and 2 of Part III of Schedule VI to the Regulations in column I is replaced by the following:

Item Column I

Form
1. Flight Plan Report, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014
2. Flight Tracking Report, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014

17. The portion of item 1 of Schedule XI to the Regulations in column I is replaced by the following:

Item Column I

Form
1. Port Infrastructure Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014

COMING INTO FORCE

18. These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

SCHEDULE
(Section 11)

SCHEDULE II.1
(Section 12.4)

RAIL CARRIER DOCUMENTS

Item Column I


Rail Carrier		 Column II


Form		 Column III

Reporting Period		 Column IV


Day		 Column V

Form and Manner
1. class I rail carriers Railway Grain Traffic Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014 monthly the day that is 7 days after the last day of the reporting period electronically using Transport Canada’s Electronic Collection of Air Transportation Statistics program
2. class I rail carriers Railway Car Order Fulfilment Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014 monthly the day that is 7 days after the last day of the reporting period electronically using Transport Canada’s Electronic Collection of Air Transportation Statistics program
3. class I rail carriers Railway Car Fleet Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014 monthly the day that is 7 days after the last day of the reporting period electronically using Transport Canada’s Electronic Collection of Air Transportation Statistics program
4. class I rail carriers Railway Car Event Survey, included in theCompendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014 monthly the day that is 7 days after the last day of the reporting period electronically using Transport Canada’s Electronic Collection of Air Transportation Statistics program
5. class I rail carriers, class II rail carriers and class III rail carriers Locomotive Fleet Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014 annually the day that is 90 days after the last day of the reporting period  
6. class I rail carriers and class II rail carriers that transport passengers and that realized revenues of at least $100,000,000 from transporting passengers in the calendar year before the year in which information is provided under subsection 12.2(2) of these Regulations Passenger Rail Origin and Destination Survey, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014 monthly the day that is 30 days after the last day of the reporting period  
7. class I rail carriers and class II rail carriers that transport passengers and that realized revenues of less than $100,000,000 from transporting passengers in the calendar year before the year in which information is provided under subsection 12.2(3) of these Regulations Passenger Rail Line Traffic Report, included in the Compendium of Survey Data Record Layouts, TP 14930, published by Transport Canada on August 1, 2014 monthly the day that is 30 days after the last day of the reporting period  

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Issues

Under the Transportation Information Regulations (TIR), Transport Canada (the Department) collected from class I rail carriers (see footnote 2) involved in freight transportation information on the volumes and commodities actually transported as opposed to the actual demand for transport services. The information collected was provided bi-annually for data aggregated on a monthly basis, by commodity and origin and destination of the shipment. Enhancement to the level of aggregation and frequency is required for the conduct of timely and thorough analysis, and to adequately monitor the overall performance of the grain supply chain and the national transportation system.

Background

The TIR, last amended in November 2013 under section 50 of the Canada Transportation Act, specify the obligations of transportation undertakings to provide the Minister of Transport, directly or indirectly, financial, operational and traffic information on their passenger and freight transportation services and infrastructures in the air, marine, rail and road sectors.

While the TIR were very extensive prior to these amendments, the capacity shortages in the grain handling and transportation system that occurred in the fall of 2013 and winter of 2014 required the Minister to issue an order in council to obtain additional rail traffic data, not included in the TIR. This incident demonstrated the limitations of the TIR in adequately meeting the immediate data needs of the Government in time of crisis, particularly in regard to rail data on grain transportation, and in helping the Government foresee misalignments between rail traffic demand and rail capacity.

Objectives

The objective of the regulatory amendment is to enable the Government to collect more complete and timely information from class I rail carriers involved in freight transportation to enhance ongoing monitoring of the overall performance of the grain supply chain and the national transportation system, and to respond to stakeholders’ needs in regard to information on the grain handling and transportation system, while being sensitive to the reporting burden that is being placed on the affected stakeholders.

The TIR were amended to address the need for additional, more disaggregated and timelier data on rail movements as identified by stakeholders in the grain handling and transportation system and the renewed Grain Monitor Program. The data collected will help the Government assess the state of the rail transportation system in Canada with respect to the movements of grain and to better understand the impact of regulations and rapidly changing trade patterns.

Description

The amendments to the TIR primarily pertain to the collection of additional and more disaggregated information from the Canadian National Railway Company (CN) and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Company on grain movements, which are the only two class I rail carriers affected by these amendments. Some sections of the TIR were also amended to make their content, meaning and scope more precise. The data to be collected include information on the railway car cycle (constructed from the dates and times of different movement events reported by class I rail carriers), rail traffic, the status of the railway car fleet and the railway car order fulfilment. The data collection will also be done on a more frequent basis. Prior to these amendments, the affected rail carriers had to provide traffic data on a quarterly basis and grain railway car cycle data annually. The frequency of the data collection has been increased to a monthly reporting requirement for weekly data (see footnote 3) relating to the handling and transportation of grain.

I. Railway car cycle

The frequency of the data collection on railway car cycle, which was yearly prior to the amendments is now changed to a monthly reporting requirement of weekly data, regardless of the geographical location of any portion of the movement between the origin and destination. In addition to what is currently being collected under the TIR, class I rail carriers now have to provide an indication as to whether the railway car was constructively or actually placed.

II. Rail traffic data

The scope of the rail traffic data collection, which currently covers all commodities and rail movements that generate revenues, was not amended. However, the frequency of the data collection for grain movements increased from a quarterly basis to a monthly reporting requirement of weekly data.

Class I rail carriers also have to identify the corridors used to transport the grain within the Western division; from the Western division to other parts of Canada, to the United States or to Mexico; and from the United States to the Western division. They also have to identify whether the grain was transported by hopper car or containers, as well as the number of loaded carloads and the gross tonnage of grain being transported.

III. Railway car fleet and order fulfilment

Prior to these regulatory amendments, rail carriers did not have to provide information on the status of their railway car fleet or their railway car order fulfilment. The Regulations now include a requirement for class I rail carriers to provide weekly information for all railway cars used for grain transportation (e.g. covered railway hopper cars) on a monthly basis.

This information will allow the Department to get a better understanding of how railway cars are deployed and provide potential indicators of railway car shortages, as well as determining whether railway car orders are met and if the demand for grain transportation services by rail is satisfied.

The data elements to be provided in regard to the railway car fleet used for the transportation of grain include the number of covered hopper cars that are empty, loaded, in storage, en route and loaded or in bad order. For the railway car order fulfilment, class I rail carriers are required to provide the number of railway cars ordered by the shipper, the number of railway cars ordered and cancelled by the shipper, as well as the number of railway cars they (the rail carriers) have committed and placed.

Other amendments

The other regulatory amendments are minor and are mainly aimed at providing additional clarifications on the existing regulations. These include

“One-for-One” Rule

The “One-for-One” Rule applies to the regulatory amendments with an annualized “IN” value of $3,313.

The amendments to the TIR impose some up-front administrative burden on the two affected rail carriers as they will have to streamline the additional data elements into their existing data reporting process to the Minister of Transport. However, once in place, it is expected that the process will be automated and will generate little or no recurrent costs to industry.

The main administrative burden for class I rail carriers results from the need to set up a series of queries, or adjust existing ones, in their systems to provide the Government with the new data elements requested. Once set up, it should be possible to run these queries as automated tasks, significantly reducing, or even eliminating, reporting costs in subsequent years.

Such a process for reporting information to the Minister of Transport is already in place in the rail, marine and air modes, and has proved to be extremely successful. It is estimated that the effort to streamline the reporting process for these new data elements will require no more than one month’s effort of an intermediate-level programmer.

Transport Canada also offered to provide technical assistance, where possible, to reduce the initial burden of setup on the rail carriers and to develop an automated process of data reporting.

The total administrative burden to the two Canadian class I rail carriers, CN and CPR, is estimated to a present value of $26,637 over a 10-year period, which corresponds to a total annualized value of $3,313, or $1,656 for each carrier. These administrative costs were estimated on the basis of the following assumptions:

Small business lens

The small business lens does not apply to the regulatory amendments, as they do not impose any costs on small businesses.

Consultation

The stakeholders most affected by the regulatory amendments are the two Canadian class I rail carriers involved in freight transportation. In addition, the new data needs identified may also affect, directly or indirectly, the corporation selected by the Government of Canada to monitor the Prairie grain handling and transportation system and other federal departments. Therefore, the list of affected stakeholders is the following:

Consultations were conducted in July 2014 with the main stakeholders affected by the regulatory amendments, which are CN and CPR, and the Railway Association of Canada (RAC), which represents commuter, goods, tourist and intercity Canadian rail businesses as well as stakeholders evolving in the rail supply and industrial rail operator sectors.

Stakeholders were given the opportunity to review and comment on the proposed regulatory amendments related to the collection of data on

Transport Canada sought guidance with a view of ascertaining the feasibility of collecting this additional data and at a higher frequency to identify challenges that might exist and to develop solutions that would enable the Department to obtain the information in the most cost-effective and efficient way possible for both the industry and the Government.

Stakeholders, which are required to provide relatively commercially sensitive data, had already raised some objections in response to a ministerial letter sent to them in February 2014 requesting this same information. It is noted that the new reporting requirements are also in addition to a number of measures, including the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act (Bill C-30), which imposed new obligations on Canadian railway companies.

However, as part of the Rail Freight Service Review launched in 2009, Canadian railway companies agreed and were able to provide car order fulfilment data, indicating that they had these data elements readily available within their systems.

The affected stakeholders (CN and CPR) confirmed during the consultations that they would be in a position to provide the additional information requested as the majority of these new data elements are already being collected for the needs of their companies. Although some adjustments or refinements will have to be brought to the scope of their current data collection (e.g. railway car cycle, loaded transit times) and definitions in order to fully comply with the reporting requirements, these were considered as relatively minor.

Rationale

Transport Canada will use the additional information collected from class I rail carriers to ensure a continuous and effective monitoring of the grain handling and transportation system. With the collection of information on all grain movements and the improvement in the completeness and timeliness of the information, the Department will have the opportunity to monitor, plan and react sooner in the event of a spike in demand for all grain movements and to better foresee capacity shortages in the sector.

The information will also be shared with the CTA to assist the Agency in developing its advice to the Minister of Transport in regard to the determination of minimum grain volumes to establish for the upcoming crop years. As a result, the CTA will not have to submit data requests to class I rail carriers. Transport Canada and the CTA have an over two-decade long history of sharing data that both are legally entitled to through the Joint Transportation Statistics Program. This reduces costs for the Government while eliminating unnecessary duplication of reporting, and therefore keeping the red tape and administrative burden at a minimum.

The impetus of these amendments was the unprecedented grain crop in the Western provinces in 2013 which, combined with particularly difficult operational and meteorological conditions in the winter of 2014, created a capacity shortage for grain railway cars and extraordinary pressures on the Canadian grain handling and transportation system. This particular case has brought to light the importance of ensuring that grain can be brought to markets in Canada and abroad as expeditiously and efficiently as possible. It also clearly showed that the data collected through the TIR prior to the regulatory amendments did not permit the type of analysis that could have helped the Government better foresee and respond to this event.

In February 2014, the Government sought from CN and CPR the voluntary provision of the same data and information being requested in the regulatory amendments in order to closely monitor the situation. However, this information has yet to be provided.

In March 2014, the Government issued an order in council as a result of this crisis in accordance with which CN and CPR were required to provide the weekly volume demand and the volumes of grain moved in each corridor, from a point on any rail line west of Thunder Bay or Armstrong, Ontario, to any point in Canada or the United States or beyond for unloading, within one week after the end of a crop week.

As this Order in Council, which was effective for a period of 90 days, has since expired, the Government decided to proceed to the collection of additional information on grain movements from the class I rail carriers through the regulatory process.

The new data elements collected, as well as the improvement in the timeliness of the data submitted by rail carriers, will provide the Government with better information in support of strategic decision-making on the transportation industry, towards the benefit of the economy and trade. This information will also allow Transport Canada (and the grain monitor) to report in a timelier manner to appropriate stakeholders on the grain handling and transportation system, with a view of enabling them to make sound business decisions.

In addition, the collection of these data elements through the processes currently in place between class I rail carriers and Transport Canada for traffic reporting eliminates the need for the Department to obtain this information through other more costly means (e.g. consultant, external party data purchase).

The new data collected pertain to data elements the class I rail carriers are already collecting and tracking for their own operational purposes (or in some cases, are providing to other parties). As stated in the CTA’s 2013–14 annual report, “Most rail carriers have sophisticated information systems that help them manage their business and enable them to track their equipment performance, delivery times, etc.” In addition, Transport Canada currently collects similar and related rail data from the affected rail carriers. More specifically, the rail carriers provide the Department with financial, operational and traffic data (i.e. commodities, origin, destination, tonnage, tonne-kilometres, revenues, expenditures, rolling stock, fuel consumption, etc.) on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis (depending on the survey).

Costs to Government and stakeholders

The additional or more frequent provision of data will be done through existing procedures and technical processes between Transport Canada and the class I rail carriers. The new data elements required simply constitute additional data sets the rail carriers will provide using existing processes, or by way of enhanced (i.e. automated) processes developed with assistance provided by Transport Canada. As a result, the additional burden and costs to both class I rail carriers and Government are expected to be minimal and are not yet quantifiable.

The costs to the Government for implementing the regulatory amendment and proceed to the data collection are estimated at $10,000 in the first year the TIR come into force, and at $2,000 per year for the subsequent years.

These costs are associated with staff resources required (i.e. programmers) to set up the new data elements and address adjustments to the frequency of reporting, to conduct up-front data validation, for ongoing data management (including the development of applications and tools for data management), and analysis.

The regulatory amendments do not impose additional costs to stakeholders beyond the administrative costs previously identified.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

The regulatory amendments came into force when they were published in Part II of the Canada Gazette.

The class I rail carriers will be required to provide their first report in September 2014, covering data pertaining to their weekly operations back to the date of publication.

This will in turn provide the Government with the ability to continue conducting thorough analysis of the rail-based supply chain.

The Government fully expects all carriers and transportation stakeholders to fulfil their obligations under the TIR. Part VI of the Canada Transportation Act provides for measures to promote compliance to the Act and its regulations. These include the development, by the Minister of Transport, of regulations designating any provision of a regulation made under section 50 or 51 of the Act, a requirement the contravention of which may be subject to an administrative monetary penalty of up to $5,000, in the case of an individual, and $25,000, in the case of a corporation.

Contact

The contact person for any inquiries is

Alain Lumbroso
Chief
Aviation and Marine Statistics and Analysis
Transportation Statistics, Analysis and Outlook Branch
Centre of Excellence in Economics, Statistics, Analysis and Research (CEESAR)
Policy Group, Transport Canada
700 Leigh-Capreol Place
Dorval (Quebec)
H4Y 1G7
Telephone: 514-633-3431
Email: alain.lumbroso@tc.gc.ca