Safety is our top priority. Oversight is complex:
- Canada has the fifth largest network in the world: 41,465 km of track.
- Challenging geographical terrain and difficult winter operations
- Almost double the amount of dangerous goods transported by rail compared to ten years ago (717,672 rail carloads in 2019, compared to 360,620 in 2009).
Mégantic tragedy revealed gaps in our legislative and regulatory framework and the need to shift our oversight program to a risk-based approach. So, we introduced a suite of rules and regs:
- Emergency Response Assistance Plans when railways carry dangerous goods (2014).
- New requirements for thicker steel on tank cars carrying flammable liquids (2015).
- Complete overhaul of the Safety Management System (SMS) regulations to better promote a safety culture (2015)
- Administrative Monetary Penalties to help incentivize better safety performance (2015).
- Strengthened the requirements around securement of unattended (2015).
- Key Trains and Key Routes Rule sets out reduced train speeds and stronger requirements for track inspections (2016).
- A liability and compensation regime that requires railways to have a minimum level of insurance based on the type of dangerous goods (2016).
We also improved our capacity to do inspections and cover more ground.
- Hired more inspectors – 107 in 2013 to 155 (current)
- More inspections – 20,000 per year in 2013, to 35,000 average per year, peaking at 40,481 in 2019/20 (highest number of rail safety inspections ever in Canada).
Equipped with the inspection results and other data (e.g. studies, TSB reports), we shifted towards a risk-based approach in modernizing our regulatory framework and delivering on our oversight role.
- The majority of our inspections are now risk-based, targeting areas of greatest risk (70%), with the remainder set as random inspections to set baseline and ensure coverage. (This is the reverse of a few years ago.)
- Completed study on key factors involved in the severity of derailments (2020), which helped inform the updates to the Key Trains/Key Routes Rule (2021).
- Locomotive Voice and Video Regs (2020) and Duty/Rest Rules (2020), which help address human factors-related risks linked with derailments (e.g. fatigue).
These changes have directly contributed to improved rail safety performance.
- TSB March 2021 tweet: “959 railway accidents were reported to the TSB in 2020, a 12% decrease from the five-year average of 1091. And 59 rail-related fatalities reported in 2020, 13 fewer than previous year.”
- Our accident rate (using revenue ton miles) in the first quarter of 2021 is one third below the 5 year average.
- The accident rate (using revenue ton miles) for main track derailments so far in 2021 is almost half of our 5 year average.
But as part of our commitment to being a world-class regulator and based on our analysis of the risks, we know there is more work to do:
- Uncontrolled movements: TSB noted that between 2010 and 2019, there was an upward trend in the number of uncontrolled movements, rising from 37 occurrences in 2010 and to a peak of 78 occurrences in 2019.
- Grade crossing accidents: Accounts for the majority of serious injuries from railway operations every year. Persistent issue - 180 accidents in 2010, and 175 accidents in 2019.
- Role of human factors —fatigue, inattention, distractions – is an important contributing factor in these accidents and this means a different approach is required to tackling these safety issues.
To grapple with these persistent and emerging issues, we are modernizing our rail safety oversight regime.
- We took the first steps with the passage of the Locomotive Voice and Video Recorder Regulations.
- Transform our oversight role to be data-driven, risk-based, technology-enabled. E.g. Establishing guidelines to support autonomous track inspection technology.
- Update our rules and systems to address human factors. E.g. Working with industry to support roll-out of enhanced train control (e.g. automated systems to prevent collisions).
- Renewed focus on community outreach and engagement to raise awareness (e.g. risks at grade crossings) and to ensure that community concerns are heard and addressed.
Central to our commitment to continuous improvement, we are taking action on the Auditor General’s follow-up recommendations.
- Reviewing best practices in other agencies/jurisdictions with respect to measuring effectiveness of oversight regimes (e.g. Canadian Energy Regulator has developed indicators).
- Established framework to support consistent effectiveness audits of safety management systems.
- Effectiveness audits of safety management systems to be launched in Sept 2021.