I can speak to that. The biggest investment we make in R and D really is in supporting the R and D done by our suppliers, by buying their new products. For example, when you spend $3 million on a locomotive to get a more fuel-efficient, lower-maintenance, more powerful locomotive, that is our biggest investment in the R and D, because we are of course supporting what our suppliers are doing. I think that's number one.
In terms of internal R and D, I can only speak for Canadian Pacific here. We contribute to a research program with the Association of American Railroads, and we are in that for about $1 million a year. We probably spend around $5 million to $10 million on other types of research projects. For example, Mr. Richards mentioned the $1 million a year on the bear research program. We support the University of Alberta Canadian Rail Research Lab. It's in that range.
It's a smaller bucket that we do collaboratively with the government, and that tends to be when we're aligned with Transport Canada on common goals. So through the Railway Research Advisory Board—that's about a $3 million program, and we're probably in that for $500,000. We support their railway ground hazard research program cooperatively with the government. It's a smaller contribution that is done collaboratively, and we'd like to see that grow. I'll use the example of Australia. They also have a collaborative research program in Australia, with suppliers with government and with industry, and they're spending $100 million over seven years—a seven-year commitment—and we're only paying, cooperatively, about 14% of that.
We have a good framework right now. There's an opportunity to develop that further through the framework of the Railway Research Advisory Board.
One of the things—