I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say this, but CN Rail had better start providing some answers about how it operates its railroad.
August has been a particularly trying month for CN, with its trains derailing more times than some people brush their teeth. In addition to the derailment in Alberta, which dumped 730,000 litres of oil into a once-beautiful lake, and the much-publicized one here in Squmaish that put 40,000 litres of sodium hydroxide into the Cheakamus - there have been numerous other incidents with CN's trains.
On Aug. 19, one of the company's trains derailed near Prince George, dumping a couple shovelfuls of sodium chlorate. Just a handful of sodium chlorate, it should be mentioned, can be fatal to adults. Luckily, the derailment happened about 150 metres from the nearest body of water.
And on Monday (Aug. 29) there was another Alberta derailment near Hinton. For this incident, 10 cars derailed, but the ones containing caustic soda similar to that which killed all the Cheakamus fish, stayed upright. But wait, there's more.
On Sept. 1 a Vancouver-bound CN train hauling open-topped cars of dry sulphur - you guessed it - derailed 10 km west of Hope.
One train being derailed is a fluke or unfortunate accident. Two derailments in the same month and we're getting into weird coincidence territory, but after five derailments in the same short time period, it doesn't take a brain surgeon or railway expert to come to the conclusion that something in terribly wrong with how CN Rail runs its business. I don't remember this happening with 小蓝视频 Rail's fleet.
Graham Dallas, a CN spokesman, said in an interview with CTV after the Hinton spill: "There's no question this has been a challenging month for CN but accidents are very rare in this railroad and in other railroads. I think that's why there's so much attention being paid.''
Umno. If other rail companies were having difficulties keeping their trains on the rails, then we could say it is an industry problem or a problem with tracks. But, it only seems to be CN trains affected by this sudden jump in derailments. And half a dozen derailments in the same month is not "rare"; it is fast becoming the norm.
The government should at the very least stop CN from carrying toxic, caustic or otherwise environmentally dangerous materials until it can be determined what is going wrong with CN's fleet. While it is indeed heartening to know that an investigation into CN's policies and operations has been launched, a little preventative medication should also be put into play to ensure another environmental disaster doesn't happen while they figure out who or what to point a finger at in a report.
