D.W. Flicker
Canada-United States Railway Economic Regulation Comparison

This study compares railway economic regulations in Canada and the United States. Because of the size and significance of the U.S. economy, as well as the close and growing linkages between the Canadian and U.S. economies and their rail industries, this information was essential to the Panel's consideration of rail policy issues. The comparison covers the transportation policy statement; the regulatory agency; market entry and exit; level of service; rate provisions; exemptions; tariffs; confidential contracts; cost of capital and revenue adequacy; final offer arbitration; interswitching and the use of terminal facilities; competitive line rates; market dominance; and maximum rates. The two countries' statutes are found to have strong similarities, 
in that both fall squarely within the deregulatory trend of the final decades of the twentieth century while addressing the recourses shippers require in circumstances where a question of an imbalance of market power arises. The statutes differ, however, in the instruments chosen to deal with similar issues, reflecting the differences in political economy between the two countries and in the development and history of their rail industries.