MARK HUME

CN Rail should be restricted to running no more than 80 cars per train throughout British Columbia and the provincial government should launch a rail-safety investigation, the New Democratic Party's transportation critic said yesterday.

"Enough is enough," said David Chudnovsky, commenting after two CN Rail trains derailed on the same day this week in the Lower Mainland.

"This is getting to the point where British Columbians have every right to be concerned about their own safety and the security of the environment. Somebody has to act now to ensure that CN is a good corporate citizen," he said.

For several months, Mr. Chudnovsky has been after the provincial government to take some action against CN, saying the company, which in 2004 acquired BC Rail from the province, has not been doing a good enough job of keeping its trains on the tracks.

So far this year, CN has experienced 11 main track derailments on the former BC Rail lines, which is nearly double the five-year average of six derailments a year that BC Rail had prior to 2004.

"It's a dramatic increase in accidents. Certainly something has changed and people have a right to ask, what the heck's going on?" Mr. Chudnovsky said.

Last month, Transport Canada ordered CN to limit the length of its conventional trains to 80 cars while operating northbound between Squamish and Clinton on a steep and twisting section of former BC Rail tracks.

The order, however, applied only to conventional trains, which have locomotives at the head.

Mr. Chudnovsky said the order should be changed to apply also to trains that have remote locomotives located within the body of the train. And he said the 80-car limit should be applied provincewide, not just to the former BC Rail tracks.

"There's a trend here [of increased derailments] and if it continues it's going to result in tragedy," he said. "We've got to stop that before it happens."

The two most recent derailments occurred on Monday. No one was injured and damage was minor.

But Mr. Chudnovsky said he's afraid that cars carrying dangerous goods could derail next time.

"It's time to get serious. If you live on any rail corridor in B.C. you have every reason to worry about your safety."

But Graham Dallas, a spokesman for CN Rail, said although the rail carrier has had more accidents than it would like, it is well within reasonable limits and compares favourably with other rail operations in North America.

"We have had an unfortunate number of incidents [in B.C.] but we see no connection between those incidents," Mr. Dallas said.

He said CN is still trying to determine the cause of Monday's derailments, but over the past year no trend or pattern has emerged from the accidents.

In Monday's accidents, one train with two locomotives at the head, pulling 39 cars, derailed while heading over a bridge on the North Arm of the Fraser River. Four cars jumped the tracks; three stayed upright while one, carrying four new automobiles, went into the water. A large crane on a barge was brought in yesterday to recover the train car and its load.

Earlier in the day, just after noon, a train with four locomotives in the front and two remote locomotives near the middle, pulling 125 cars, partly derailed in the Cheakamus Canyon, near Squamish. Seven empty wood chip and lumber centre beam cars went off the tracks.

The accident site was near where two other CN trains derailed earlier this year, including one that dumped 40,000 litres of caustic soda into the Cheakamus River.

The chemical spill killed thousands of salmon, steelhead and trout.

Last month, B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon met with CN Rail officials to express provincial concerns.

He said on Monday that he remains concerned about the frequency of derailments and that he expects CN to demonstrate the company is doing everything it can to avoid accidents.

© Globeandmail.com 2005