The Canadian Rail Research Laboratory (CaRRL) was established to be Canada's premier education and research program in railway engineering.

Housed within the University of Alberta's Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, CaRRL features a large, dedicated laboratory space inside the Natural Resources Engineering Facility.

Dr. Michael Hendry is the Director of CaRRL and holds the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Railway Engineering. Dr. Renato Macciotta is the Associate Director of CaRRL and assists with coordinating CaRRL research activities. Dr. Derek Martin served as inaugural Program Director and concurrently held the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Railway Geomechanics and the Alberta Innovates - Technology Futures Tier One Industry Chair in Railway Geomechanics. 

Phase 1 (2012-2019) of the CaRRL research program focused on scientific and technological research to support key Canadian and North American priorities of ground hazards (subgrade) and winter service reliability and capacity.

Phase 2 (2019-2024) of the CaRRL research program focuses on developing new technologies to assess and improve railway system performance and reliability, and to establish a risk management framework for potential implementation into railway operations.