Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today imposed $1.21 million penalty on Canadian Pacific Railway Company for utilizing more than 100 wireless radio facilities without FCC approval.
FCC said Canadian Pacific Railway Company failed to obtain FCC authorizations for the transfer of control of thirty wireless radio licenses.
“Wireless facilities are critical to the safe and efficient operation of our nation’s railways,” said Travis LeBlanc, chief of the Enforcement Bureau. “We take seriously our responsibility to ensure that the ownership and operation of all such facilities comply with the FCC’s licensing processes.”
In 2015, Canadian Pacific’s internal audit revealed non-compliance with FCC licensing regulations, and the company subsequently disclosed its violations to the commission. In addition to paying a monetary civil penalty, the company will implement a 3-year plan to ensure compliance with FCC requirements.
Alberta-based Canadian Pacific Railway Corporation provides rail, passenger and distribution services throughout Canada and parts of the United States. In 2008, the company acquired several railroad companies in the United States holding FCC authorizations in the wireless radio services.
The company’s 2015 internal audit of its FCC authorizations uncovered unauthorized transactions dating back to 2008, and it revealed that Soo Line and its predecessors had constructed, relocated, modified, or operated more than a hundred wireless facilities without FCC approval, beginning as far back as 1979.
