THE TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY OF THE CANADIAN RAILWAYS, 1956-91.

M W Tretheway · William G. Waters II · Andy K. Fok

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Abstract

This paper examines the productivity performance of Canadian National (CN) Railway and Canadian Pacific Rail (CP). It is a summary of a more extensive study (see Tretheway, Waters and Fok, 1994). Both CN and CP are large transcontinental railways. CP is privately owned; CN is a Federal Crown corporation although it operates with substantial autonomy. The data period is 1956-91: from the end of steam to the present. The rail industry has undergone many changes over the last 36 years: technological changes in rail operations and controls; changes in markets as a significant amount of traffic moved to road transport and large-scale bulk movements increased; and significant changes in the policy environment. Following the pricing freedom gained by Canadian railways after the 1967 National Transportation Act, the Canadian railways achieved impressive productivity growth, catching up with and surpassing the performance of US railroads (Caves, Christensen and Swanson, 1981). But the US rail deregulation in 1980 initiated substantial reform and efficiency improvement in the American industry. There have been few studies of the recent performance of Canadian and American railways (Jones, et al, 1990; Tretheway and Waters, 1991aandl992). There are growing fears in Canada that US rail performance may be outstripping Canadian carriers. We estimate the total factor productivity (TFP) of the Canadian railways, and we are able to make some comparisons with recent TFP growth for the US rail industry. Section 2 provides a minimal review of TFP measurement. Output and input measurement and trends are discussed in Section 3. Section 4 presents various produc tivity measures for CN and CP: (1) single factor productivity (comparisons of output growth with the growth rate of individual input categories); (2) variable factor productiv ity (the growth of output compared to inputs excluding fixed capital inputs); and (3) total

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References

1982Multilateral Comparisons of Output, Input, and Productivity Using Superlative Index Numbers 1969THE MEASUREMENT OF U.S. REAL CAPITAL INPUT, 1929–1967 1982Productivity Measurement in Regulated Industries 1992THE MEASUREMENT OF PRODUCTIVITY*1981Economic Performance in Regulated and Unregulated Environments: A Comparison of U.S. and Canadian Railroads 1992Concepts, methods and purposes of productivity measurement in transportation 1988Airline Cost and Performance: Implications for Public and Industry Policies 1991Productivity in the Transportation Sector

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