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Area
Covered
The area covered in this work is bounded by
the following locations:
Quebec:
Waltham, Maniwaki, Buckingham, Marelan, Rigaud, Coteau
Ontario:
Cornwall, Brockville, Kingston, Harrowsmith, Sharbot Lake, Madawaska,
Brent.
Aspects
Covered.
In the past the federal government has
exerted a very tight control over all aspects of the way railways were built
and operated. This varied over time but
the following summarizes the general areas that were covered and have been
included:
1. New Lines
 Location
Taking of land
Expropriation
Use of government lands
Use of Indian lands
Subsidy
Open for carriage
2. Approval of By laws, tariffs
and services
3. Operating rules
Approval
Exemption
4. Crossings
across highways
Accidents - removal of
statutory speed restrictions
Highway crossing signal systems
Standards
Installation, maintenance,
alteration and modification
Sight lines, standards and
maintenance
Cattleguards
Standards
Exemption
Building across canals or
navigable waters
Crossing another railway
Authority to cross
Authority to install, modify or
remove interlockings
Pipe and wire crossings
(telephone, telegraph, electricity, water, gas, fuels etc)
Authority to cross
Standards and maintenance
| 5. Fencing
Standards
Exemptions
6. Bridges and Tunnels - new,
modified or reconstructed
Approval of plans
Authority to use after
completion
7. Industrial and Private Sidings
Authority to construct or
extend
8. Train Operations and services
9. Stations and station buildings
Approval of location of station
grounds and buildings
Authority to alter,
reconstruct, move or remove
Authority to appoint agents,
caretakers and to remove staff
10. Dangerous goods
Shipment
Location of Tank Farms, Loading
and Unloading Racks
11. Branch Line Abandonments
12. Passenger and Freight Services
Discontinuance
13. Any General item that affected the public interest or safety
14. Specific details such as the requirement to obtain an order in
council for all industrial sidings built under the Canadian National Railways
Act
15. Miscellaneous items such as the remission of duty on goods imported
temporarily |
Form
of Regulation
Privy
Council Railway Committee (PCRC)
From 1867 there was a Committee of the
Privy Council which comprised Cabinet Ministers. This heard all railway cases and was
primarily concerned with new railway location, subsidy and fitness to open for
carriage. Technical support was provided
by the Department of Railways and Canals, particularly through the Chief
Engineer for Railways. Decisions of the
Committee are shown under PCRC
although in many cases these were followed up in the form of an Order of the
Governor General in Council. This was,
in effect, a confirmation by the whole Cabinet of a decision made by a Cabinet
Committee. Orders of the Privy Council
Railway Committee are dated but not numbered.
Board
of Railway Commissioners (BRC)
The Board of Railway Commissioners was
formed in 1904 to carry out the detailed decisions and relieve Ministers of the
heavy burden this was causing. Commissioners
were political appointees but the Board acted independently of the Department
of Railways and Canals and Cabinet, although politics entered into some of the
decisions. The BRC started a number
series of orders that are generally in date order. This is not completely so as a number,
particularly in the early period, were evidently backdated for a particular
reason. Orders of the
BRC are shown by their number.
Board
of Transport Commissioners (BTC)
The Board of Transport Commissioners was
formed in 1938 to regulate the air, rail and water modes. The BRC was merged into the new board and a
similar modus operandi was adopted.
Orders of the BTC are similar to those of the BRC and the number series
was continued unbroken right up to its demise in 1967. This represents a remarkably detailed
unbroken record of some 124,000 orders from 1904 to 1967. Orders of the BTC are shown by their number.
Canadian
Transport Commission (CTC)
The Canadian Transport Commission was created
in 1967 to take over the responsibilities of the Board of Transport
Commissioners. The modus operandi was
similar to that of the previous Board but a new number series with a
"R" prefix (e.g. R-24019) to denote an order of the Railway Transport
Committee of the Commission. Orders of the CTC are shown by
their number.
National
Transportation Agency (NTA)
The National Transportation Agency was
created in January 1988 to take over the function of the Canadian Transport
Commission. Orders then took a separate
number series in each year (such as 1988-R-2) and these are identified as such
in the listing. The Railway Safety Act
completely changed the approach to safety regulation and this highly detailed
record of orders came to an end in January 1989. The National Transportation Agency and its
successor, the Canadian Transportation Agency, continued to have a role in
economic regulation in areas such as branch line abandonment.
Orders
of the Governor General in Council
The Privy Council continued to exert an
influence in railway regulation after 1904 although the detailed work was
reduced considerably. The items tended
to cover subjects such as subsidies, leases, navigable waters, and the Canadian
National Railways Act. Orders of the
Privy Council are numbered in the sequence in which the case is received at the
Privy Council office and the numbers start over at the beginning of each
calendar year. Thus an order of the
Privy Council is shown as PC 1911-1116 and these are shown here in this form. Initially the number was
allocated when the case reached the Privy Council office, the date shown is the
date it is approved by the Privy Council and signed by the Governor General. In some cases orders which were presented
towards the end of the year are not handled until the next year and were dated
for the subsequent year. In later years,
after about 1950, the number was allocated when the order was approved.
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