Message from the President – September 2024

Railroaders and safety advocates from across North America have done it again. They’ve rallied the continent’s attention to the sometimes complex issues surrounding rail safety. They’ve educated and engaged communities. They’ve reached people where they are and highlighted that safety is a collective responsibility — everyone has a role to play.

Here in Canada, Rail Safety Week observances are led by our colleagues at Operation Lifesaver Canada. And it was great to see the number and variety of events that were held across the country and the important media coverage that was generated. It was also great to see an unprecedented level of collaboration with counterpart organizations in the U.S., Mexico, and around the world. The RAC team is a proud partner in all ways.

#RailSafetyWeek2024 is in the books but, with trespassing and crossing incidents above the five-year historical average, work to raise awareness and save lives must continue.

This year’s theme in Canada was “There is no ‘Undo’ button.” It is a phrase you will hear for weeks and months to come. Because there is no room for error around tracks and trains. And our OL colleagues will continue to make the case to key audiences that risky behaviours can have permanent and irreversible consequences.

It was great to see parliamentarians, including the parliamentary secretary to the Transport Minister and the Shadow Minister, rise in the House and affirm their support for Rail Safety Week and the railroaders who strive daily to make Canada’s railways ever safer.

Safety is job one for every Canadian railroader. That is the top message we will share with the new Transport Minister, the Hon. Anita Anand. We will drive home that safety is a key component to railways’ ability to deliver for Canada’s economy and for Canadian families.

Rail Safety Week, after all, is just one of 52 weeks where safety comes first. As we all work to get to zero — zero incidents, zero deaths, zero injuries — it’s important to keep the momentum going and remind people how they can help stop track tragedies.

Safety is at the heart of what railways do every day. It is also the foundational building block for our Proximity Initiative, the latest on which can be found by reading this month’s newsletter.

Read on to also learn how we are continuing our campaign against extended interswitching (EIS). We intend to make the case to the new minister that EIS is about protecting unionized jobs and Canada’s supply chain. Allowing U.S. carriers greater access to the Canadian market without similar access provisions for Canadian carriers in U.S. markets, creates an uneven playing field that no other jurisdiction in the world would stand for.