Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. wants to keep an eye on its train crews, and says installing cameras aimed at the locomotive operators will improve safety on the railways.

At a meeting next month, Calgary-based CP will urge Minister of Transport Marc Garneau to change the law that restricts the viewing of in-cab recordings to government investigators – never rail companies – in the event of a collision or derailment.

Keith Creel, CP's president and chief operating officer, said the cameras will make railways safer by allowing the company to ensure train crews are following operating rules, and not texting or engaging in other prohibited distractions.

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"Just the presence of the camera's going to be a huge deterrent," Mr. Creel said in an interview. "It's going to reduce the likelihood that some unauthorized activity is going on in that locomotive cab."

The union that represents train crews at CP backs the use of video and voice recordings in Transportation Safety Board investigations of derailments and other incidents, but opposes the company's use as an unneeded and illegal invasion of privacy.

"We don't have a problem with the video and voice recording, we just don't want it to be used to erase Canadians' rights," said Doug Finnson, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.

He said locomotive speeds and operations are already closely monitored by traffic controllers, who are in regular radio communications with crews. He fears the company will watch the camera feeds in real time and use face and word recognition technology to monitor and discipline employees for criticizing managers or discussing union business.

"Changing the law doesn't make rail operations safer," Mr. Finnson said. "They don't need to film us for safety reasons."

The Transportation Safety Board, Canada's rail safety investigator, called for the installation of in-cab voice and video recorders in 2012, after the derailment of a Via Rail train that killed three people in Burlington, Ont. The TSB says being able to review the video and voice recordings of crew actions and conversations will help it better understand what preceded a collision, and help it rule out possible causes. Probes of several serious rail collisions in North America have benefited from access to crew recordings, and resulted in changes to regulations that improved safety, the TSB notes, adding the aviation industry has made use of such recordings for at least 30 years. "It's not moving as fast as we would like," said Julie Leroux of the TSB. "We need to know the interaction in the locomotive cab."

The Railway Association of Canada, citing data from the Transportation Safety Board, says "human actions" are responsible for 18 of 87 main-track derailments between 2010 and 2014. (Track and equipment problems caused 59 crashes in the same period.)

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Via Rail has in-cab voice recorders on 21 of its 73 locomotives. Before it installs more, it is awaiting the results of a joint study of the recorders with Transport Canada, the TSB, railways and unions, a spokeswoman said.

Canada's largest freight railway, Canadian National Railway Co., said it had no plans to install in-cab cameras because it is not allowed to use them for "pro-active accident prevention and quality-control purposes."

A review of the Canada Transportation Act released this year called for Canada to harmonize its rail-safety regulations with those of the United States, where the Federal Railroad Administration is preparing a rule mandating their installation on all major freight railways and the passenger service Amtrak. Mr. Garneau has said he will consider the report's recommendations.

"Inward-facing cameras are seen as an additional resource in enhancing safety," said Ed Greenberg, a spokesman for the Association of American Railroads.

CP's Mr. Creel said he isn't concerned about the behaviour of "99 out of 100" train operators. "But unfortunately there are a few unprofessional ones out there that get in that cab, out of sight out of mind, and they're not going to comply with the rules," he said.

Mr. Finnson, the union leader, said CP wants to use the recordings to replace good management practices, and that human-related safety issues are a symptom of being forced to work harder and longer hours with insufficient rest periods.

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"We have a fatigue problem that they're denying. If there's no fatigue issue, why do they want to film us?" he said.