Agriculture committee  I'll mention something I had mentioned in my earlier comments. It is that each year the agency reviewed the whole situation, including the costs, and did an audit on what the railways had done under the revenue cap for each of them. There is a provision in there to roll back when there's any excess above the established revenue cap, so working under the model in place in the legislation right now, we're confident there was a way of catching any excess.

Agriculture committee  It's $2 a tonne.

Agriculture committee  At the moment, it's based on an historical allocation, and each railway has a portion of the Canadian government fleet. In CN's fleet, as we mentioned earlier, there are some aging aluminum cars, which everybody recognizes are outmoded. The balance of the fleet is with both CN and CP.

Agriculture committee  We review it regularly, but I'm going to ask Madam Borges to respond more specifically.

Agriculture committee  I'll start by answering your last question. The Canadian Transportation Agency determines car maintenance costs. It's the Agency that requires maintenance changes. I'd like to clarify if I may, Madame, what I said earlier. I mentioned that there are approximately 12,100 cars right now in the federal hopper car fleet.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much, and good morning. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank committee members for this opportunity to address you concerning the hopper car fleet, a topic of particular importance to the Western Canadian grain industry. First, I'll provide you with some historical context, in order to explain the role that hopper cars play in the transportation system.