6 RAIL TRANSPORTATION

MAJOR EVENTS IN 2006

Canadian National Railway (CN) continued to acquire more railways in 2006, including Rail America’s Lakeland & Waterways, MacKenzie Northern and Central Western railways. In doing so, CN increased its operations by approximately 1,200 kilometres of track.

In the summer of 2006, Rail America’s Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway (E&N) operations on Vancouver Island were transferred to Southern Railway of BC (SRY). This left the Island Corridor Foundation (ICF) the majority owner of the track on the Vancouver Island, after Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) had donated its portion of the former E&N line to the ICF just a few months earlier.

In 2006, overall employment in the railway industry continued to decline, though by much less than it had over the previous 15 years, while rail output continued to increase.

Infastructure

Industry Structure

Employment

Energy

Freight Transportation

Passenger Traffic

Price, Productivity and Financial Performance