With Canada's passenger rail services operating on shared railways increasingly facing delays, there is now a federal proposal that seeks to prioritize passenger train operations.

Last week, Taylor Bachrach, the NDP MP for the riding of Skeena-Bulkley Valley, introduced Bill C-371, which proposes to direct railway owners and operators like Canadian Pacific and Canadian National to prioritize passenger trains over freight trains.

"If there is any conflict in respect of the operation of a railway line between the movement of traffic and the movement of passengers, railway companies must give priority to passenger rail service on that railway line," reads the bill, which also proposes to fine the railway operator up to $250,000 for each violation.

This follows Via Rail's request earlier this fall asking the federal government to formally provide passenger trains with right-of-way over freight trains.

On Friday, Bachrach explained that the bill is written in a way that provides all passenger rail services would gain priority on shared tracks — not just Via Rail.

If approved, this would, for instance, also benefit interregional passenger services such as Amtrak and the Rocky Mountaineer, as well as regional commuter rail public transit services such as TransLink's West Coast Express in Metro Vancouver, Metrolinx's Go Train in Greater Toronto, and Exo in Montreal. These commuter rail services lease track time from private railway companies for their operations.

"I think everyone who works on passenger trains is keenly aware of the impact the current lack of passenger priority is having on their business," he said.

"Until the government deals with the issue of passenger priority, many communities will continue to suffer from poor passenger service. We have an opportunity to catch up with the rest of the world, where passenger trains are a viable transportation option, but it's going to require government leadership."

The federal government is currently in the process of planning a major high-frequency rail (HFR) upgrade for Via Rail's busy corridor between Toronto and Quebec City, which includes building new dedicated tracks for HFR trains along the corridor to mostly separate passenger and freight operations.

It will enable trains to not only run frequently and on time, but also at higher speeds of up to 200 km/hr, and using electric trains powered by overhead catenary wires.

The request for proposals (RFP) process for the HFR railway upgrades was launched earlier this fall, with previous early cost estimates pegging the project at up to $12 billion.

Metrolinx is also currently in the early stages of undergoing a $13.5 billion upgrade of the Go Train network, including new separate tracks dedicated to the Go Train and electrification. This will enable more all-day service, minimum frequencies of every 15 minutes, bi-directional service, increased speeds reaching up to 140 km/hr, and improved on-time performance.

Service levels on the West Coast Express in Metro Vancouver have seen few changes since it was first launched in the late 1990s, with just five scheduled trains in each peak direction only during peak hours due to freight prioritization on weekdays only.

TransLink leases track time on Canadian Pacific, which is known to prioritize freight traffic on this particular busy railway serving the Port of Vancouver.