Many local governments negotiate agreements with railway
companies for the construction, maintenance or apportionment of
costs of a utility crossing a railway corridor. Pursuant to section
101 of the Canada Transportation Act S.C.1996, c.10 (the
"Act"), these agreements, and amendments to them, may be
filed with the Canadian Transportation Agency (the
"CTA"). If a person is unsuccessful in negotiating an
agreement, or amendment to an agreement, the CTA may, on
application, authorize the construction of a suitable road
crossing, utility crossing or related work and specify who will be
responsible to maintain the crossing.
In a series of recent decisions rendered in response to
applications filed by the City of Surrey with respect to storm
sewers within railway corridors (the "Surrey
Decisions")1, the CTA has confirmed that section
101 of the Act does not restrict an application for a utility
crossing only to instances where no other legislative jurisdiction
is
