Another CN train derails in B.C.

Golbeandmail.com
Thursday, December 15, 2005

Canadian Press

Prince George, B.C. — A CN Rail train derailed in northern British Columbia on Thursday, the latest in a string of accidents in Western Canada this year.

Railway spokesman Graham Dallas said 15 cars of the northbound train left the tracks at about 4 a.m., about 22 kilometres east of Fort St. James.

“Our No. 1 goal is to investigate to determine what the cause is,” said Mr. Dallas. “It had 48 cars, so it is a relatively short train.”

He said most of the cars were empty forest products cars. Mr. Dallas said there were no injuries and no hazardous materials were involved.

Last week, there were two CN derailments in B.C. in a single day, including one in the Squamish area, where there have been several derailments this year.

Transport Canada has laid down specific rules for CN to follow on that section of track, a former B.C. Rail line.

On Wednesday, Transport Canada relaxed its order to CN regarding the length of its trains on that route north of Vancouver for a 60-day trial period.

The railway can now operate 99-car trains northbound in the Squamish area north of Vancouver, but those trains must be operated under “distributed power.” The agency's restrictions on the length of so-called “conventional” trains remains at 80.

Conventional trains have locomotives at the front; distributed power trains have locomotives at the front as well as in the body of the train to push and pull the cars.

The company has had a series of mishaps in Western Canada this year.

On the stretch of line near Squamish, a tank car loaded with a caustic soda broke open after plunging into the Cheakamus River last summer, causing a serious fish-kill. CN acquired the B.C. Rail operation from the provincial government in 2003 and has experienced 11 derailments on that line so far this year.

The company's worst accident this year spilled 700,000 litres of oil and potentially hazardous wood preservative into Wabamum Lake near Edmonton on Aug. 3, two days before the Cheakamus River spill.

Unionized employees of CN have said that the company's safety record has declined since it was privatized in 1995, but the railway has defended its record as the best in North America.

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