CN Rail and the B.C. government are facing demands for comprehensive reviews following the devastating caustic soda spill in the Cheakamus River on Aug. 5.

The most recent demand came from the Canadian Autoworkers Union (CAW) and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and it followed a similar demand from the B.C. NDP.

The unions want a review of the rail operations on the line formerly operated by B.C. Rail (BCR) and now controlled by CN Rail. The unions, which represent locomotive engineers and shop craft maintenance employees at CN Rail, made the point by writing federal transportation Minister Jean Lapierre.

B.C. NDP transportation critic David Chudnovsky is concerned about the length of the trains operating on the former BCR line and expressed his concern directly to Liberal transportation minister Kevin Falcon.

“Rail industry experts have suggested that the increased length of CN trains along BC Rail’s former corridor has significantly increased the potential for derailment and is jeopardizing public safety,” said Chudnovsky.

The transportation critic said it is time Falcon provided the public with a full accounting of the safety, maintenance, environmental and inspection standards agreed to by CN when it signed a long term lease to operate on the former BCR line.

Bruce Willows of the TCRC said there was a spike in the number of serious derailments over the past month.

“While we refuse to speculate regarding the cause of these derailments, we owe it to our members and to the public to demand a comprehensive review of CN Rail’s maintenance, repair and inspection processes,” Willows said in a news release.

John Burns, vice president of the CAW Local 100, said this week that the length of the trains operating on the line has been a concern for his union.

Burns questioned whether CN is doing the proper inspections on its track and on its rolling stock. And, he questioned the rail company’s handling of extended trains in corridors where the terrain is a challenge.

“We’re concerned over the downsizing over the last few years at CN,” said Burns.

Burns said the unions wrote to Lapierre because he oversees the Transport Canada and the Transportation Safety Board (TSB). The TSB monitors the safety of Canada’s national railways.

Burns is concerned about more than just suspect track maintenance. He said his union is concerned about the state of some of CN’s rolling stock.

“For some time now the CAW has been very concerned about the alarming number of defective rail cars allowed to travel on trains through our communities,” he said. “This is either the result of the diminishing number of shop craft maintenance employees left to repair them, or CN Rail’s desire to run their trains at any cost.”

When CN vice president Peter Marshall was in Squamish on Aug. 17 he said CN will continue to carry potentially dangerous products like caustic soda along the former BCR line.

The company has not indicated it will reduce the number of cars it pulls along the former BCR following the derailment on Aug. 5. The caustic soda tanker that went off the rails on Aug. 5 was one of 144 cars making up the northbound train.

jfrench@squamishchief.com

© The Whistler Question 2005