Safe, Secure and Getting Safer

Canada's railways run an average of 1,100 passenger and goods trains every day, often over some of the world's most rugged terrain and in some of the world's worst weather conditions. Canada's railways have the best safety record in North America and provide by far the safest means of ground transportation in Canada.

Safety Regulation
Rail safety is highly regulated in Canada. Transport Canada (TC) has regulatory oversight over the sector via various legislation and acts, rules and regulations etc. TC has stringent rules dictating track inspection, track maintenance, equipment inspection and maintenance that are rigorously applied and enforced. All incidents are reported to and investigated by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

Amendments to the Railway Safety Act in 1999 required railways to implement Safety Management Systems (SMS) to integrate safety into day-to-day operations. SMS did not replace or lessen any existing safety rules or regulations, nor did it lessen the oversight capabilities of Transport Canada in any way. In fact, SMS represented an additional layer of regulation on top of existing requirements. SMS moved all parties away from a program basis where the number of regulatory interventions is the key measure, toward a risk management culture where the key measurements are based on safety performance results.

SMS added new requirements for railways to:
- Ensure that they have safety targets and report results to Transport Canada;
- Develop processes to ensure employees are aware of regulations;
- Maintain policies beyond minimum requirements;
- Measure, monitor, and track hazards and defects;
- Solicit employee input, and
- Mitigate hazards to reduce or eliminate risks.

Rail Safety
The performance of Canadian railways in terms of safety has steadily increased over the last decade. From 2001 to 2010, the accident rate per million main-track train-miles fell from 22.82 to 15.88, a 30.4 per cent improvement in safety performance by the freight railways (Rail Statistics - 2010, Transportation Safety Board or pdf 555 kb).

In 2011 there were 1,023 train accidents involving federally regulated railways in Canada, 54 less than in 2010. Of these, 103 were main track derailments a 16 per cent reduction from the 122 main track derailments recorded in 2000. The definition of "derailments" can be as limited as a wheel being off-track but not the rail car.

Passenger Rail
Canada's passenger and commuter railways are among the safest in the world. In 2010 they carried more than 73 million passengers. Passenger railways (inter-city and commuter rail services) registered 77 train accidents in 2010, two less than the five year average between 2005-2010. The accident rate for passenger railways is determined by calculating the number of accidents per million intercity passengers and rail commuters. The accident rate in 2010 was 1.05, a 4.6% decrease from the five year average between 2006 and 2010. Also noteworthy is the five-year 25 per cent reduction in the accident rate from 1.34 in 2005 to 0.85 in 2010 . (Rail Trends 2011, RAC)

Rail Crossings and Trespassing Accidents
Through RAC, Rail companies in Canada are engaged in an active and highly successful public information and education campaigns to reduce the number of crossing and trespassing incidents. Innovative initiatives, such as Operation Lifesaver, are having a direct and positive impact.

Since 1980 the number of crossing collisions (where a train and motor vehicle collide) in Canada has fallen dramatically from over 800 annually to 169 in 2011, a 79% decline! While this reduction speaks to the success of safety efforts undertaken in that time, there still remains unnecessary loss of life and injury with 71 fatalities and 51 serious injuries occurring in 2011 as a result of crossing collisions and trespassing on rail property.