The Report

among railways, in particular by allowing railways and shippers to negotiate confidential contracts. The NTA 1987 also introduced new mechanisms for resolving disputes, including Final Offer Arbitration (FOA). Adoption of the NTA 1987 followed the railway regulatory reforms introduced in the US in 1980 through passage of the Staggers Act.

The trend in Canadian railway freight rates is examined here from two perspectives: vis-à-vis the trends in prices in general; and vis-à-vis the trend in US railway freight rates. are a significant impact on the total price growth between 1988 and 2021. Canadian average railway freight rates have risen by a total of 43% between 1988 and 2021, while US rates have grown 72%. Both industrial prices and consumer prices have increased substantially more than the Canadian and US rail freight rates, while commodity prices have more than doubled, having increased by 120%.

4.1 Rail Freight Rates Versus General Price Indexes

The total increase since 1988 (the first year after enactment of the NTA 1987) in Canadian railway freight rates versus US railway freight rates, the Canadian Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI), the Canadian Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Bank of Canada Commodity Price Index (BCPI) is shown on the table to the left.

The BCPI is an index of the spot prices, in US dollars, of 26 commodities produced in Canada and sold in world markets. All variables have been expressed in index form with 1988 equal to 100. US railway freight rates in Figure 7 have been converted to Canadian dollar terms using the CanadaUS dollar exchange rate.19 As the Canada-US exchange rates were similar in 1988 (0.81255) and 2021 (0.79753), the exchange rate does not have a significant impact on the total price growth between 1988 and 2021.

4.2 Canada Versus US Rail Freight Rates

The Canada-US trade relationship is one of the world’s largest, with Canada’s bilateral trade with

Comparative Statistics for Freight Revenue, Volume and Rates

the US totalling $774 billion (CAD) in 2021. The countries, because of their proximity, also by unprecedented integration of their supply chains. Railways in Canada and the US, however, have operated within an integrated network for far longer, since the late 1800s. These ties prompt a closer examination of Canadian versus US rail freight rates. While there is an evident strong correlation between the two series, US rail rates increased considerably faster over the period than Canadian rail rates. From 1988 through 2021, rail freight rates in the US grew by an average of 1.7% per year, compared to an increase of 1.1% per year in Canada..Note, however, that this faster growth is actually due to the relative performance since 2010, which has also resulted in average rail rates in Canada being lower than those in the US since 2015 (Canadian rates averaging about 12% below US rates).