The United States Railroad Retirement Board will soon be compiling employee contribution records and mailing out BA - 6 Forms detailing records of service and compensation collected from railroad employees working in the US.

For our TCRC members who are currently working into the States and wish to ensure delivery of the BA 6 information please call 877-772-5772 or log on to RRB.GOV through your internet service.

Recent monitoring of the RRB call site will result in some frustration , be patient. The front line employees you will speak to are not trained or familiar with Canadian railroad workers contacting them. The majority of our membership do not have US Social Security numbers and you will probably have to advise the RRB representative that your CP Rail employee number preceded with 999 should trigger a record of your contributions and service.

The RRB system of tracking Canadian employees working into the States has been converted to accept your Social Insurance Number, unfortunately the RRB reps you speak with have quite likely not been trained in the process.

Again, please be patient, if you choose to select the Internet option it is very helpful regarding RRB protocol.  However you will likely experience problems when submitting personal info on the Website as Canadian postal codes are not accepted in the program .

As a reminder, all Canadian railroad employees working into the United States must pay contributions to the RRB as decreed by US Federal Law. Deductions equaling 2 hrs and 45 minutes working time are automatically submitted to the RRB by CP Rail for each employee working into the US. This is not a option, consequently, when applying for CP Rail Pension any employee with international service will be affected. Please refer to your CP Annual Pension Statement, page 2, paragraph 5, for more information.

Hope this helps
Fraternally
JM Zrini, President
TCRC Division 528

The RRB is a US agency that administers retirement benefits to railroad workers who work in, or into, the United States.  Division 528 employees who operate trains to the US at anytime in their career are subject to RRB deductions by US law.

These deductions will appear on your pay-stub under the following headings:

• RRB Tier 1

• RRB Tier 1 Health

• RRB Tier 2

First and foremost it must be understood that the RRB Pension is non-refundable and non-transferable.  If you are not vested in the RRB pension plan after retirement, death or disability,  your contributions are banked into a interest account where proceeds are shared among the American Association of Railroads.

US Federal Law dictates that any Railroad employee working into the United States must contribute a percentage of earnings to the RRB which  is a arm of the US Social Security Program.  The Canadian employers operating trains into the US are bound by the same law and must make these deduction accordingly.

In order to qualify to be vested in the RRB Plan, one of two criteria must be met.  A Canadian railroad employee working into the United States prior to December 31 2000 became vested in the plan when 120 months of contributions were realized.  Changes to the act implemented by President Bush on said date now allow railroad employees to be vested with 60 months of accredited contributions commencing December 31, 2000.

Upon becoming vested in the plan, eligible CP Rail RTE's are entitled to a retirement pension at age 60 which is subject to the "Double Stacking of Railroad Pension's Provision" included in the CP Rail Pension Services Plan.  This means CP will reduce the Canadian Portion of your pension based on the benefits you receive from the RRB.  For example, if your monthly pension is $3000 per month, and your RRB entitlement is $300 per month, CP will only pay you $2700 and expect you to collect the balance from the RRB.  For this reason it is important to contact the RRB and become vested in their plan.

The Clinton Government discontinued issuance of US Social Security Numbers to Canadian railroaders in 1994 and the RRB now implements a generic ID number using the numerals 999 and the CP Rail Employee number to track contributions.

Here is the local offices which provide information for 528 members:

For those members of our Division with U.S. hours of service the following documentation dated 1999 has been brought to our attention. This situation of little or no information on behalf of  CP Pension Services in regard to International Employee's is currently being addressed through the TCRC National Office. Please contact S/T Nick Dionne or myself in if you have any concerns or questions.

International service and the RRB document dated 1999 

Please use the above provided links to get the ball rolling. Here are some links to on-line resources to get you started as well:

RRB Homepage

US Social Security On-line

Form G-70 Protest of Record of Service