Residents of Wabamun, Alta., whose lake and source of drinking water has been polluted since early this month, would likely support calls by rail workers for a public inquiry into Canadian National Rail's safety record and practices.

And residents along the Cheakamus River in British Columbia who have seen the death of thousands of steelhead trout resulting from another derailment and spill of toxic material, would surely add their voices to the chorus.

CN Rail, the country's largest train operator, which suffered the derailments at Wabamun and on the Cheakamus, also has had many less serious mishaps, including two in the past five days.

Overall, it has been a bad year for the rail giant, with a sharp increase in derailments so far this year over the same period in 2004.

Now, the United Steelworkers, which represents 3,500 CN track maintenance workers, wants the federal government to convene a public inquiry, with a focus on whether job cuts have played a role in the spate of accidents.

The Teamsters, representing 900 locomotive engineers, support the inquiry on similar grounds.

CN Rail insists its accident ratio is lower than the industry average at 5.8 per 1 million track miles compared to 8.6 Canada-wide. It also cites statistics it claims show it has North America's best safety record.

It is promising to spend $850 million in 2005 on rail-related maintenance, up from $700 million in 2003.

Nonetheless, the rising number of derailments is troubling.

But an expensive public inquiry is not the most efficient way to study the problem. Experience shows such inquiries often take too long, seldom meet government deadlines and gobble up tax dollars with abandon.

At the same time, Transport Minister Jean Lapierre's move to direct his staff to conduct their own audit of CN's safety record is unnecessary.

A better way is allow the Transportation Safety Board to complete its investigation into the major spills.

The board has the expertise and experience to make a full probe of the spate of spills. Also, the board is a step removed from the political process, which might come into play in Lapierre's office's probe, or in a public inquiry in which the unions might use the occasion to grind an axe with CN Rail over job cuts.

If the board's investigation fails to provide some useful insight, then a public inquiry into the whole issue of railway safety, not just CN's recent record, might well be contemplated.

But it is premature for union leaders to propose such an unrealistic and expensive solution to a legitimate public policy issue.

© The Toronto Star 2005