CN's Motion to Strike VIA's Application for Judicial Review has been granted. CN's grounds for its Motion to Strike relied on a pair of jurisdictional issues:
- CN is not a "federal board, commission or other tribunal" as required to be included by Section 18 of the Federal Courts Act. A claim that the Court lacks the jurisdiction to hear the Application.
- The Train Services Agreement (TSA) between CN and VIA gives CN control over the movement of VIA's passenger trains providing CN with absolute discretion, including CN's ability to make private arrangements and issue General Bulletin Orders (GBO's).
I believe that the TSA may be the grounds upon which the judge based her decision.
This is not to say that Loss-Of-Shunt (LOS), problems with CN's grade crossing protection technology, and public safety are not still in play. Transport Canada asked CN to support the need for their October, 2024 grade-crossing speed reductions, and that information has already been returned by CN and sealed as confidential in the Federal Court case. The Ministerial Order is still outstanding.
VIA owns only 3% of the rail networks it uses on a daily basis, so it must negotiate contracts known as Train Service Agreements (TSAs) with the networks' owners (CN, CP, and other short-line carriers) for access to and use of the rail infrastructure. VIA's operational performance hinges on the terms of those contracts. VIA's passenger service competes for the use of the same tracks with freight trains owned by CN, CP and other short-line operators. So VIA has only limited ability to establish schedules that would best serve its own commercial interests. In recent years, VIA has struggled to improve the punctuality of its passenger rail operations.
CN and VIA operate under the TSA effective January 1, 2009 (top photo) for a ten-year term, currently under adjudication before the Canadian Transportation Agency. Pending resolution, CN and VIA agreed to extend the terms of the 2009 TSA in a Status Quo Agreement dated June 20, 2023. In fact, CN and VIA have had a TSA, to which they are both signatories, since at least 1989. That agreement was amended and extended in 1995 until 2008, in 2009 until 2018, and then...
....there have been drawn-out negotiations and eight temporary extensions to the contract, since its 2018 expiry. VIA and CN continue to respect the terms of the existing, but expired, TSA until a new agreement can be reached. The two are currently in discussions towards the renewal of a new agreement and VIA continues its focus on addressing challenges to poor On-Time Performance.
Some industry pundits have suggested the differences in approach between the two railways have led to friction up to and including the CN-imposed crossing speed reductions in October 2024. That CN is trying to punish/break/get rid of VIA from its tracks. Perish the thought!
The CN-VIA TSA has even been the subject of a Canadian Transport Agency decision in which VIA said the TSA was the most important contractual document respecting CN and VIA’s commercial relationship. and that it was negotiated with the strong expectation that it would be kept confidential. VIA contended that the disclosure of the Agreement would give competitors knowledge of VIA’s cost structure, enabling them to have a head start in developing competing products or a competitive advantage in future transactions.
Considering its access to third-party infrastructure (its network of which 83% is owned by the Canadian National (CN) alone and 97% is owned by all third parties combined) within VIA's current 2023-2027 planning period, it must renew the TSA with CN, fundamental to its mandate and regular operations as well as its key modernization activities. Only when VIA finally builds and operates its own network in the Corridor, this will continue to be the case.
Until then, here are some articles of interest from the public versions of the 2009 and 2023 TSA ["Agency" refers to Canadian Transportation Agency/Transport Canada]. Key articles pertain to operations, maintenance of infrastructure, insurance and compensation.
This is where the redaction begins in earnest:
Signed by Keith Creel for CN, and Paul Cote for VIA. Mr Creel had a 17-year career at CN before becoming CEO of CP and the first CEO of CPKC in 2023. M Cote became President of AMT after his time as VIA's CEO.
Check out these cool retro bar graphs:
Thereafter, 50 pages of rolling stock disposition of a historical nature. SGU's, Dayliners, Renaissance shells and E-series sleepers.
Selected articles from the public version of the 2023 CN-VIA TSA dated February 17, 2023
The redaction feature got much more of a workout in this public version of the 2023 TSA:
- Insurance and Compensation >8 pages completely redacted.
- VIA scheduling model >9 pages completed redacted.
- Train Service Charges >4 pages completely redacted.
Samples of the characteristics of VIA Corridor train schedules on the CN Kingston Sub (Montreal-Toronto = 335 miles and Kingston-Toronto = 157 miles)
Running extra...
Just as at the beginning of December, VIA suffered another weekendus horribilis due to 30 cm of snow in Toronto and 40 cm in Montreal. CN suffered a derailment within Taschereau Yard, quickly telling everyone that it was within its yard, though every VIA train in the Dorval area was delayed/stopped/returned to Central Station.
Monday, February 17 14:25 EST, the list of cancelled corridor trains for today from the VIA service status page, is: 20, 26 (Ottawa-Montréal portion), 33 (Québec-Montréal portion), 37, 44, 53, 66, 67, 68, 69, 83, 87, 668, 669. Cancellation of Nos 83, 87, 601, 603 today means that #82, 84, 600, 604 will be cancelled tomorrow. Cancellations for February 18 and 19: Nos 69, 669, 79, 39, 645, 59, 26 (MTRL to QBEC), 28 (MTRL to QBEC), 29, 67, 33 (MTRL to OTTW), 35 (MTRL to OTTW), 37 (MTRL to OTTW), 87 (with alternate transportation).
A bright headlight on the horizon! Prime Minister (for now) Justin Trudeau today announced the new maglev network that's going to appear overnight and under budget between Canada's biggest cities carrying four passengers on each train. Oh wait, it's the caffeine talking. I'm considering retooling Trackside Treasure into the Highspeedrail Treasure and only posting developments in this saga. Nah, it's the caffeine again. Never mind.
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