Patrick Monahan
Constitutional Implications of Expanded Railway Access

The paper examines the constitutional implications of granting running rights over federally regulated rail lines to provincially regulated railways. The conclusion is that Parliament can grant such rights and require the provincial operator to meet federal statutory requirements. The study also concludes that where operation of the provincial railway remains a separate and distinct undertaking from operation of the federal railway, the mere physical connection between them occasioned by running rights would not change the constitutional status of the provincial railway.