6 RAIL TRANSPORTATION
ENERGY
Class I railways, including VIA Rail, consumed about
1.9 billion litres of fuel in 1990 and 1.8 billion litres in 2003.
However, output in terms of revenue tonne-kilometres
(RTKms) increased by 31 per cent over the same period,
from about 225 billion to about 294 billion RTKms. This
demonstrates that while Class I carriers still accounted for
92 per cent of total sector fuel consumption in 2003, they
have significantly increased their fuel efficiency. This is
due largely to important investments by CN and CPR in
new locomotive replacement programs in the latter half of
the 1990s, to changes in operating practices, and to a
reduction in operations over low-density lines, which for
the most part were transferred to other operators.
Addendum tables A6-5 and A6-6 provide information on
rail energy consumption from 1993 to 2003. Information
for years prior to 1993 can be found in previous
Annual Reports.
Table 6-5 compares output in the railway sector in 2002
and 2003.
TABLE 6-5: RAILWAY OUTPUT IN MILLIONS OF REVENUE TONNE-KILOMETRES, 2002 AND 2003
| |
2002 |
2003 |
| Class
1 |
292,195.7 |
293,870.6 |
| Regional 1 |
18,406.6 |
16,670.7 |
| Shortline 1 |
7,267.5 |
7,338.4 |
| Total |
317,869.8 |
317,879.7 |
- Estimated for several carriers.
Source: Transport Canada, Statistics Canada
Table 6-6 compares fuel consumption in the railway
sector in 2002 and 2003.
TABLE 6-6: RAILWAY FUEL CONSUMPTION, 2002 AND 2003
| (Millions of litres) |
| |
2002 |
2003 |
| Class
1 |
1,808 |
1,847 |
| Regional 1 |
125 |
118 |
| Shortline 1 |
89 |
85 |
| Total |
2,022 |
2,050 |
- Estimated for several carriers.
Source: Transport Canada, Statistics Canada
Regional railway fuel consumption and output have
both remained relatively stable in recent years. Regional
railway fuel efficiency has been higher than Class I
railways until recently, but this has been due largely to the
extraordinary fuel efficiency of Quebec North Shore &
Labrador Railway: due to the nature of its operations, the
QNS&L has experienced fuel efficiencies almost double
the industry norm.
Major Events in 2004
Infrastructure
Industry Structure
Employment
Energy
Freight Transportation
Passenger Traffic
Price, Productivity and Financial Performance
|
