Narrative:

Our flight was cleared to taxi from the 30R de-ice pad via taxiway P left C and hold short of runway 12R on C. The taxiways; markings; lines and hold short lines were obscured by fresh snow and the visibility was affected by -sn. Additionally; the taxiways were slippery and given the time of day; dusk was starting. During taxi on taxiway C; ground control was also communicating with another air carrier [with similar call sign] which confused me and misinterpreted this as a crossing clearance for 12R. When I realized this message was not intended for our flight I slowed down and tried to determine my position exactly. It was at this time that I discovered that my nose wheel had indeed crossed the (obscured) hold short line. Additionally I received a very clear caution from the runway status lights. I brought the airplane to an immediate stop and had my first officer notify the tower. An airplane on short final was instructed to go-around. We received further taxi instructions to proceed to runway 17. A very important factor that led to this incursion is the company policy to assign very similar sounding call signs to simultaneously operating flights in the same airspace. Although my situational awareness was impeded by meteorological factors; I am convinced that this event would not have taken place if I would not been confused by the similar sounding call-sign over the same frequency.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ-200 Captain reported a runway excursion resulted when he mistakenly took a clearance intended for another company aircraft with a similar call sign.

Narrative: Our flight was cleared to taxi from the 30R de-ice pad via taxiway P left C and hold short of RWY 12R on C. The taxiways; markings; lines and hold short lines were obscured by fresh snow and the visibility was affected by -SN. Additionally; the taxiways were slippery and given the time of day; dusk was starting. During taxi on taxiway C; ground control was also communicating with another air carrier [with similar call sign] which confused me and misinterpreted this as a crossing clearance for 12R. When I realized this message was not intended for our flight I slowed down and tried to determine my position exactly. It was at this time that I discovered that my nose wheel had indeed crossed the (obscured) hold short line. Additionally I received a very clear caution from the runway status lights. I brought the airplane to an immediate stop and had my First Officer notify the tower. An airplane on short final was instructed to go-around. We received further taxi instructions to proceed to RWY 17. A very important factor that led to this incursion is the Company policy to assign very similar sounding call signs to simultaneously operating flights in the same airspace. Although my situational awareness was impeded by meteorological factors; I am convinced that this event would not have taken place if I would not been confused by the similar sounding call-sign over the same frequency.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.