Glenn Bohn

Another CN train went off the tracks Monday between Squamish and Whistler, in the same area where a CN derailment this August dumped 40,000 litres of highly corrosive caustic soda into the Cheakamus River and killed thousands of salmon and other fish.

Although all seven cars that jumped the tracks Monday in the Cheakamus Canyon were empty and there was no toxic spill into the river this time, it was the 11th main-track derailment along the former BC Rail line this year.

That's almost double the accident rate that BC Rail had before CN Rail bought the line from the the B.C. Liberal government in July 2004 and began running longer and less frequent trains than BC Rail did on the mountainous route.

"We've had a couple of rough patches here," Toronto-based CN spokesman Mark Hollman conceded during an interview. "But, in general, our safety performance compares favourably with the rest of the industry."

However, that performance didn't impress either B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon or Opposition transportation critic David Chudnovsky.

"Any derailment on that corridor is going to be a concern," Falcon said. "The concern [this time] is not environmental damage or impact. The concern is the frequency of the derailments. It just reminds us that CN has to demonstrate they're doing everything they possibly can to ensure this doesn't happen."

Chudnovsky, the New Democrat MLA for Vancouver-Kensington, said "enough is enough."

"This is one more in a series of derailments that put at risk B.C. residents and the B.C. environment. Somebody -- and I think that somebody has to be our minister of transportation -- has got to take this seriously and demand of CN that they run their trains safely."

Falcon, however, said CN has to comply with the same environmental regulations that BC Rail had to comply with, and the federal transportation safety regulations it now falls under mirror the provincial safety regulations that BC Rail used to follow.

"Most of those regulations are standardized across North America, because trains run through different jurisdictions," he said.

On Nov. 4, because of all the accidents along the former BC Rail line, federal Transport Minister Jean Lapierre ordered CN Rail to limit the length of conventional trains to 80 cars on the northbound rail line between Squamish and Clinton. Lapierre threatened to order a public inquiry if the company did not address its problems.

Hollman said the seven-car derailment Monday occurred on a 125-car train, but he said CN was in compliance with the federal order that limits train length.

He said the new 80-car rule refers to conventional trains with locomotives at the front of the train.

Hollman said the 125-car train on the tracks Wednesday was a "distributed power" train -- not a conventional train -- with four locomotive units or engines at the front of the train and another two electronically controlled engines in the middle of the train.

"That's totally in compliance with Transport Canada's instructions," he said. "This distributes the pulling and braking effect of the train. For the gradient in the area, it's a superior way of handling the train."

However, it was a distributed power train that derailed and dumped its toxic cargo into the Cheakamus last August.

gbohn@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2005