Reading Time: 1 minute 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 […] Read more
Preview: Railways, grain shippers at loggerheads over interswitching
Pilot to test expanded radius deemed unnecessary by both sides
Rail interswitching expansion pilot clears Parliament
Grain handlers to press for plan to be made permanent
Reading Time: 2 minutes 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 […] Read more
Go bigger on interswitching pilot, grain groups urge Ottawa
Railways say the measure creates inefficiencies; farm groups say the opposite is true
Reading Time: 2 minutes 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 […] Read more
Railways push back on feds’ proposed interswitching revival
Railways also oppose ban on replacement workers
Reading Time: 3 minutes 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 […] Read more
Railways say they’re ready for large shipping season
Reading Time: 2 minutes 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 […] Read more
Grain elevators brace for high-volume shipping season
Reading Time: 3 minutes 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 […] Read more
Federal rail freight legislation clears Senate
Reading Time: 2 minutes 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 […] Read more
Senate hands back transport bill, with changes
Reading Time: 3 minutes Federal legislation sought by farm groups wanting improvements to rail service for the grain sector is on its way back from the Senate to the House of Commons. Senators on Thursday afternoon passed Bill C-49, the Transportation Modernization Act, on third reading — but with several amendments proposed Wednesday by the standing Senate committee on […] Read more
Farmers seek ‘urgent’ action from Senate on rail service
Reading Time: 3 minutes Groups representing Canadian grain growers touched down in Ottawa Thursday to urge quick passage of legislation to avoid a sequel to the grain handling logjam of 2013-14. Representatives from the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Grain Growers of Canada, Keystone Agricultural Producers, Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, Alberta Federation of Agriculture and B.C. Agriculture Council went […] Read more
Mixed reactions from farm groups to Bill C-49 progress
Reading Time: 2 minutes Commodity News Service Canada – Western Canadian producer groups support changes to rail transportation in Canada but vary on support of the latest legislation, Bill C-49. Bill C-49 passed its third reading in the House of Commons Nov. 1 and is now off to the Senate for review. The bill is meant to amend the […] Read more
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