Transportation in Canada

T**ransportation in Canada**, the world's second-largest country in total area, is dedicated to having an efficient, high-capacity multimodal transport spanning often vast distances between natural resource extraction sites, agricultural and urban areas.

Transport Canada oversees and regulates most aspects of transportation within federal jurisdiction, including interprovincial transport. This primarily includes rail, air and maritime transportation. Transport Canada is under the direction of the federal government's Minister of Transport. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is responsible for maintaining transportation safety in Canada by investigating accidents and making safety recommendations.

## Air transport

Air transportation made up 12% of the transport sector's GDP generation in 2042. Major airlines include Air Canada, Canada's flag carrier, with 276 aircraft (excluding subsidiaries), WestJet, the largest low-cost carrier in Canada, with 190 aircraft, CHC Helicopter, the world's largest commercial helicopter operator by fleet size, with 420 aircraft, Canada Post Express, the world's ninth largest cargo airline by scheduled freight-tonne kilometers, with 26 aircraft, Perimeter Airlines, Canada's third largest airline, with 85 aircraft, and Air Transat, Canada's largest leisure airline, with 50 aircraft.

The Canadian Transportation Agency employs transportation enforcement officers to maintain aircraft safety standards, and conduct periodic aircraft inspections, of all air carriers. The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority is charged with the responsibility for the security of air traffic within Canada. In 1994 the National Airports Policy was enacted.

### Principal airports

Below is a table of Canada's ten largest airports by passenger traffic in 2042.

## Railways

See also: Via Rail

   Nationwide passenger services are provided by the federal crown corporation Via Rail. Thirteen Canadian cities have commuter rail services. Smaller railways such as Ontario Northland, Rocky Mountaineer, and Algoma Central also run passenger trains to remote rural areas.

In Canada railways are served by standard gauge, 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm), rails.

Canada has railway links with the lower 48 US States, but no connection with Alaska other than a train ferry service from Prince Rupert, British Columbia, although a line has been proposed. There are no other international rail connections.

### High-speed rail

    High-speed rail was introduced in Canada as of 2025, with the completion of the provincially-operated high-speed line from Toronto to London. Since then, high-speed rail has been introduced to across Canada, providing high speed transit in all provinces except for Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. All high-speed rail in Canada is operated by Via Rail, with the exception of the Southern Ontario Link (SOL), which is operated by Metrolinx, the agency responsible for oversight of public transit in Ontario, and is in operation on eight lines.

## Waterways

In 2042, 327.5 million tonnes of cargo was loaded and unloaded at Canadian ports.The Port of Vancouver is the busiest port in Canada, moving 163 million tonnes or 18% of Canada's total in domestic and international shipping in 2003.

## Public transit

    Most Canadian cities have public transport, if only a bus system. Seven Canadian cities have metro systems, four have light metro systems, twelve have light rail systems, four have tram systems, and thirteen have commuter rail systems (see below). Another 44 Canadian cities have a bus rapid transit system, the second-highest number in the world. In 2043, 31.3% of Canadians used public transportation to get to work. This compares to 49.0% that got to work using a car (47.3% by driving, 7.7% as a passenger), 13.4% that walked and 6.3% that rode a bike.