Canada’s extended interswitching radius for rail shipment will expire in March and, with Parliament prorogued, the Grain Growers of Canada are concerned there’s precious little opportunity to save it.
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Interswitching pilot expiry worries grain sector
The extended interswitching radius will expire in March and, with Parliament prorogued, the Grain Growers of Canada are concerned there’s precious little opportunity to save it
Interswitching resurgence puts railways, grain industries on collision course
Both sides say a pilot to test a bigger interswitching radius is a bad move, but for opposite reasons and to opposite effect
Recent federal legislation has raised the stakes in a decade-long battle between the railways and Canadian grain shippers. The battle is over the interswitching radius. Interswitching is a regulation to ensure that shippers located where only a single railway operates can access points that are not served by that railway. The regulation kicks in when
A decade of interswitching debate
Rail bottlenecks, federal reports and renewed life for extended interswitching
Interswitching has been regulated since 1904 in Canada but in 2013 an exceptional harvest led to record-breaking grain production in Western Canada. The increased supply, combined with challenging weather conditions, overwhelmed the railways and led to significant delays in moving grain to export terminals. In 2014, the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act reached Parliament
Preview: Railways, grain shippers at loggerheads over interswitching
Pilot to test expanded radius deemed unnecessary by both sides
Recent legislation has raised the stakes in a decade-long battle between the railways and Canadian grain shippers over the interswitching radius. Interswitching refers to a regulation to ensure shippers located where only a single railway operates can access points that are not served by that railway. The issue is especially concerning for Canadian grain shippers
Rail interswitching expansion pilot clears Parliament
Grain handlers to press for plan to be made permanent
Last week’s passage of the 2023 federal budget starts a 90-day countdown toward an 18-month test of expanded interswitching on railways in the three Prairie provinces. Bill C-47, the government’s budget implementation bill — which was first read April 20 in the House of Commons and got third reading in the Senate and royal assent
Go bigger on interswitching pilot, grain groups urge Ottawa
Railways say the measure creates inefficiencies; farm groups say the opposite is true
Farm groups from across the country are asking producers to lobby federal ministers and MPs and urge them to super-size a government proposal for what’s called ‘extended interswitching.’ The measure, part of this spring’s federal budget, essentially gives grain shippers a choice in which railway they deal with (as long as the competitor’s line is
Railways push back on feds’ proposed interswitching revival
Railways also oppose ban on replacement workers
With Easter less than two weeks away, an Easter egg in the federal government’s 2023 budget calls for a new pilot program to again provide Prairie grain shippers with extended interswitching. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s budget, released Tuesday, laid out a list of investments to “further strengthen Canada’s transportation systems and supply chain infrastructure.” A
Railways say they’re ready for large shipping season
CNS Canada — Canadian Pacific Railway managed to slightly increase its grain shipping volumes last year, despite the extreme cold. CP moved 25.8 million tonnes of western Canadian grain, grain products, soybeans and non-regulated principal field crops during the 2017-18 crop year. That’s a one per cent increase from the previous crop year and one
Grain elevators brace for high-volume shipping season
CNS Canada — Grain companies in Western Canada are bracing for another high-volume year, as questions about the system’s ability to handle that amount continue to plague the industry. Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association, said despite the heat stress that has hit many crops this year, grain companies expect this
Federal rail freight legislation clears Senate
Canada’s Senate has passed federal legislation that grain grower groups have hoped will help improve rail freight service for the sector this year. Bill C-49, the Transportation Modernization Act, passed third reading in the Senate on Tuesday following a 41-31 vote to approve a message that the Senate “does not insist on its amendments” to
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