Evidence of meeting #14 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was rail.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Dianne Lynn Watts Conservative South Surrey—White Rock, BC
So, of the 500, does every single city and municipality know where their high-risk crossings are?
Director General, Rail Safety, Department of Transport
The information we have in our database has all the crossings ranked from 1 to 22,000. That information was made public by the minister on April 28.
Conservative
Dianne Lynn Watts Conservative South Surrey—White Rock, BC
Is this posted on a website, as opposed to being engaged with the community?
Director General, Rail Safety, Department of Transport
Yes, and in addition, when we become aware of a safety issue, we do engage proactively with municipalities.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
My apologies, but would it be possible to make a minor correction to some of the comments that Ms. Diogo made? She just wanted to correct something that she said in the previous statement. It's very short.
Director General, Rail Safety, Department of Transport
It's regarding my answer in French earlier in terms of the qualifications of the RCLS, remote control locomotive systems, operator. I indicated in French that they had to be trained as a locomotive engineer. In fact, they are, according to regulation, trained and qualified by the railways to use the technology in addition to being trained as a conductor/foreman, not a locomotive engineer.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
On the issue of remote devices. I understand there is a risk assessment process in place.
Has the use of remote devices ever been rejected after having gone through the risk assessment process?
Director General, Rail Safety, Department of Transport
There are no specific requirements for a risk assessment related to the RCLS technology. Under the SMS regulations, when there are significant changes to operations, the railway companies are required to notify Transport Canada and to conduct a risk assessment. We can require those risk assessments.
The use of the technology is not something that Transport Canada approves on a one-to-one basis.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
When a risk assessment is provided, what does Transport Canada actually do with it?
Director General, Rail Safety, Department of Transport
When we receive a risk assessment or where we go on site to review a risk assessment, that informs our enforcement inspection planning. It is required to bring other parts of the program together and determining whether, in having a conversation with the railway, the risk assessment is sufficient in our view in mitigating risk.
Liberal
Director General, Rail Safety, Department of Transport
There is no direct link between the two and, yes, we can take other actions.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
I would like to add to that. If there is an unsafe action of any kind that was not adequately assessed in the risk assessment, there are several different authorities under which the inspector and/or the department or minister can take action—and that is, without hesitation, what we would do.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Thank you all very much for the valuable information. We look forward to hearing some comments back from you when we table our final report.
To the committee members, I understand that there has been some discussion. The Prime Minister is making an announcement on Wednesday, so we would start at 3:45 rather than 3:30.
Is that agreed?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
It's in the House, so there might be a slight delay in our starting time.
The other issue is regarding the drafting instructions. Please come with those instructions for our analyst on Wednesday, as she will be starting to prepare the report, and be ready to talk about future business.
We will also get a note from the clerk regarding Lac Mégantic and the particulars of that trip very shortly.
NDP
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
The timing of when we can get to the airport in Montreal is really important.
Liberal
NDP
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
I suggest that you speak to the clerk.
If there's no further business, I will adjourn the meeting.