Transport Canada Approves 2028 Rail Worker Mentorship Rules

OTTAWA, Canada – Transport Canada issued updated Railway Personnel Training and Qualifications Regulations that will replace the 1987 Railway Employees Qualification Standards Regulations when they take effect in 2028. The new framework mandates that any worker holding a safety-critical position with less than 24 months of experience must have uninterrupted access to a more experienced colleague. Railway companies will be required to maintain complete records of each employee’s training, examinations, and evaluations under the updated regime.

What Does This Regulation Cover?

The regulation expands the list of safety-critical railway positions to include remote-control locomotive operators and rail traffic controllers, two roles that did not exist in the 1987 framework. Transport Canada officials stated the updates respond to three operational shifts: deployment of new technologies, reduced crew sizes on freight and switching operations, and accelerated training programs that place less-experienced workers into safety-critical roles faster than in previous decades. The record-keeping requirement applies to all safety-critical employees regardless of tenure, creating a continuous audit trail from initial certification through ongoing evaluations. No penalty schedule for non-compliance was disclosed in the announcement.

Key Regulatory Data

How Does This Compare to Global Standards?

Canada’s introduction of mandated mentorship for workers with less than two years of safety-critical experience stands apart from the European Union’s Railway Safety Directive (EU) 2016/798, which defers specific mentorship ratios to national safety authorities rather than prescribing a uniform two-year threshold. The United States Federal Railroad Administration, under 49 CFR Part 240 and Part 242, requires certified locomotive engineers and conductors to complete periodic recertification but does not impose a blanket continuous-access mandate for junior employees comparable to Canada’s new rule. Latvia’s ongoing preparation of rail services for the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS), as reported by LMT in 2025, illustrates a parallel regulatory modernization trend in which technology deployment drives updates to personnel certification requirements across multiple jurisdictions. (Source: ERA Railway Safety Directive implementation reports, 2024; FRA 49 CFR Part 240/242)

Editor’s Analysis

Transport Canada’s decision to allow a multi-year runway before the 2028 enforcement date signals that the regulator anticipates industry pushback on record-keeping costs and operational constraints from the continuous-access mandate. The concurrent rise in North American railcar contract liabilities—Greenbrier (NYSE: GBX) reported customer prepayments surging from $22.7 million to $40.1 million between August 2025 and May 2026—suggests that freight operators are adding rolling stock capacity at a pace that will bring new hires into safety-critical roles precisely when these regulations take effect. A Notice of Determination served on Greenbrier in May 2026 concerning antidumping and countervailing duties on freight rail couplers adds a second regulatory pressure point for the North American rail supply chain in the same window. The absence of published non-compliance penalties in Transport Canada’s announcement leaves fleet managers without a clear cost-benefit baseline for budgeting compliance investments. (Source: Greenbrier SEC 10-Q filing, May 2026)

FAQ

Q: Which job roles are newly classified as safety-critical under the 2028 regulations?
A: Remote-control locomotive operators and rail traffic controllers are designated as safety-critical for the first time. These roles were not contemplated in the 1987 regulatory framework.

Q: What does the mentorship requirement mean for railway operators?
A: Any worker holding a safety-critical position with less than two years of relevant experience must have continuous access to a more experienced colleague. Transport Canada has not yet specified whether this access must be physical, remote, or both.

Q: What happens if a railway company fails to maintain employee training records?
A: The specific penalties for non-compliance were not disclosed in Transport Canada’s announcement. The regulation establishes the record-keeping obligation, but enforcement mechanisms remain undefined as of publication.