Rail in Canada

Operating revenues for the Canadian rail transportation industry continued their upward trend in 2003 despite a series of shocks to the economy that included the SARS crisis in Toronto, mad cow disease in Alberta and the major electricity blackout in Ontario.

Operating revenues rose 1.2% from 2002 to $8.3 billion. Freight transportation revenues, which accounted for 88.5% of total revenues, went up 1.4% to $7.3 billion. Passenger operations accounted for an additional 3.1% of total revenues.

The rail industry's operating expenses rose 1.5% to $6.7 billion, primarily the result of higher costs for locomotives and railway car maintenance in the equipment category.

In 2003, total assets were $17.6 billion, showing the capital intensive nature of the industry.

On the basis of origin and destination traffic, railways carried 249.8 million tonnes of commodities, up 2.3% from 2002. Ten commodities accounted for 57.3% of all commodities transported in Canada in 2003.

Coal remained the main commodity transported, even though tonnage fell 9.5% to about 28.6 million tonnes. According to CN Rail's annual report for 2003, coal declined partly as a result of reduced coal production in Western Canada and the closure of a metallurgical coal mine.

Among other commodities, wheat shipments fell 2.4%, while wood pulp tonnage was down 2.2%. On the other hand, iron ores and concentrates recorded the biggest increase (+12.7%).

Although total freight tonnage was higher in 2003, the railways travelled slightly shorter distances. The average haul on each railway decreased from 953 km to 943 km. Each train had an average of 74 cars in 2003, highest since 1999.

The declining trend in employment in the industry continued, as the number of jobs fell from 37,000 in 2002 to 36,000. This decrease was mainly due to a reorganization and staff reductions at CN and regional and short line railways. Both CP and VIA actually increased their work force. The average annual salary in 2003 was about $65,000.

For the first time in five years, the number of passengers travelling by rail declined. About 4.0 million passengers travelled by rail in 2003, down 6.9% from the previous year.

At the same time, passenger revenues fell from $287.5 million to $255.8 million. In contrast, between 1999 and 2003, passenger revenues rose 13.5%. The discontinuation of passenger services by some regional railways may explain part of the decline between 2002 and 2003.

VIA Rail accounted for 90.1% of all revenue from rail passenger transportation. The remainder was shared by CN, CP and the regional and short-haul carriers. VIA Rail also received 58.4% of total government payments that went to the rail industry.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2734.

The publication Rail in Canada, 2003 (52-216-XIE, $39) is now available.

To obtain data or more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact the Dissemination Unit (1-866-500-8400, transportationstatistics@statcan.gc.ca), Transportation Division.