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The National Railway Network (NRWN) is the result of a partnership between Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), Transport Canada (TC), the Railway Association of Canada (RAC) and different owners and users (provinces, CN and VIA Rail Canada). This layer of data supplements the wide range of geospatial data already available on the GeoBase website. 

Uses 

This homogenous representation of Canadian railways facilitates exchanges of technical knowledge between TC and the industry, while improving efficiency in collecting, maintaining and disseminating geospatial information. TC also uses the NRWN for inspection work on lines, risk analysis and planning the development of rail transport. The RAC strives to reduce the number of collisions and loss of life associated with railway activities, and the NRWN is essential, even crucial, to locating and analyzing these accidents. NRWN data, which is available free of charge with no limitations on its use, will contribute to the development of a multitude of applications of benefit to the entire Canadian population. Integrating this data into GPS navigation systems and producing a Canadian railway atlas are just two examples. 

The NRWN is comprised of basic features (track, station, marker post, structure, crossing and junction) required by the main players involved in managing Canadian rail transport. Descriptive attributes are associated with each feature. The data is organized by data sets, each one covering a Canadian province or territory.

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