Scott Simpson

The frequency of derailments along the former BC Rail line is significantly higher since CN took over the former provincial railway last year, government statistics indicate.

The federal Transportation Safety Board says CN experienced 10 main-track derailments along the former BC Rail line through Nov. 3, 2005 -- or about one accident a month compared to just two such incidents for all of 2004.

The five-year average for main-track derailments on the BCR line, through 2004, was less than six each full calendar year, or about one every two months.

The increase in derailments along the BCR line, which was sold to CN in July 2004, comes despite a reduction in the number of trains travelling along the track which serves interior and northeast B.C.

CN is running one long train each day, compared to as many as three shorter ones when the BCR was running the service.

International transportation watchdog group Transport 2000 attributes the increase to CN's recent decision to add more cars to its trains -- a practice that has already drawn the attention of the federal Transport Ministry.

CN spokesman Mark Hallman said CN's own accident statistics, derived from a U.S. system based on the cost of each derailment, show the number of significant incidents has actually declined since it took over BC Rail.

Hallman said CN's safety performance "compares favourably" with the rest of the industry in terms of main-track derailments.

He said that by Canadian Transportation Safety Board measures, CN's national performance is better than the average for federally regulated railways.

Hallman said the railway is not confident that accident numbers collected prior to the BC Rail takeover can be used as a comparison with recent performance.

BCR numbers were collected by a provincial agency whose database "did not have sufficient detail" to compare its accident records against those of the federal safety board, Hallman said.

Nonetheless, Hallman said CN is taking a series of specific safety initiatives nation-wide, including on the former BCR line.

CN has been threatened with a public inquiry by federal Transport Minister Jean Lapierre if the railway does not act quickly to improve its safety performance.

That threat came after three derailments in the vicinity of Squamish, including a disastrous chemical spill into the Cheakamus River.

Transport 2000 president David Jeanes said CN's decision to run longer trains is "definitely" a contributing factor to the number of incidents in B.C.

In addition, Jeanes noted, the BC Rail track may itself be a contributor because it was not built to the same mainline standard as CN's transcontinental network.

B.C. NDP transportation critic David Chudnovsky said the party has received about 15 anecdotal reports from current and former CN and BC Rail employees who asserted that the accident rate on the BCR line is up significantly since the takeover.

Chudnovsky said he continues to press B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon for details about any discussions the provincial government had with the railway prior to the sale regarding safety, maintenance, land use, and environmental protection.

He said it is not clear from the minister's responses whether or not the government required any special commitments from CN on those issues.

BC Rail had major problems with derailments in the 1980s and most of the 1990s -- worse than in 2005 -- but its safety record improved dramatically after it upgraded the track in 1998.

The Sun compared the number of incidents in a single category, year over year beginning in 1985.

That category is called main-track derailments, representing the number of times in a given year that trains jumped their tracks along major routes -- and ignoring incidents that occur on spurs and in switching yards.

The Sun derived its information from three sources: an Internet-archived 2003 report by BC Rail's then-chief engineer; the B.C. Safety Authority, which had BCR's accident records on file; and the federal Transportation Safety Board, which tracks incidents on national railways including CN.

Even with CN's recent rough patch, the statistics show there are far fewer derailments along the BCR main line compared to the late 1980s-early 1990s.

The railway averaged 19 main track derailments per year from 1985 to 1994, according to an Internet-archived presentation by the former chief engineer of BC Rail.

That presentation shows BCR's performance worsened from 1995 to 1998, averaging almost 22 main track derailments per year.

After 1998, the average plunged -- reflecting a major BCR initiative to upgrade track quality and safety.

There were seven derailments in 1999, 10 in 2000 and six in 2001, according to the chief engineer's statistics.

Statistics provided by the B.C. Safety Authority show BCR experienced four main-track derailments in 2002, five in 2003 and just one through the first six months of 2004 -- prior to the July takeover by CN.

CN suffered just one main track derailment along the BCR line for the last six months of 2004.

So far this year, it's a very different story.

CN has reported 10 main-track derailments along the former BCR line between Jan. 1 and Nov. 3, according to statistics provided by the Transportation Safety Board.

ssimpson@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2005