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CN Rail Says Safety Program Working Despite Latest Train Wreck in N.B.

Posted on: Friday, 11 May 2007, 18:00 CDT

SAINT-ANDRE, N.B. (CP) - Officials with Canadian National (TSX:CNR) insist their program to improve rail safety is on track, despite a train wreck in New Brunswick that forced about 100 people to temporarily leave their homes.

CN repair crews were cleaning up Friday at the site of an accident in which 52 cars in a 137-car freight train jumped a stretch of track along the St. John River in northwestern New Brunswick, near the Canada-U.S. border.

There were no injuries in Thursday's accident, but about 30 families had to leave their homes after it was learned several of the cars were carrying hazardous materials, including propane, sodium chlorate and hydrochloric acid, which forms toxic gases when exposed to water.

Residents of the rural area were given the all-clear to return home on Friday after it was determined there were no chemical leaks.

"Things are under control," said RCMP Sgt. Derek Strong.

"The haz-mat team has been dismissed and crews are clearing the track."

Mark Hallman, a spokesman in Toronto for Canadian National, said normal traffic on the freight line should be restored over the weekend.

He said several freight trains have been rerouted to another track while repairs are underway.

The Transportation Safety Board has sent investigators to the scene to assess the accident.

Hallman said it's not know what caused the derailment.

Safety along CN Rail lines has come under scrutiny in recent years, especially after a disastrous year in 2005 during which there were more than 20 train derailments.

Just last month, CN and CP Rail (TSX:CP) were both cleaning up derailments, including a CP crash in British Columbia that claimed the life of an engineer who stayed with his runaway train.

That accident and others have led to a call to beef up the country's Railway Safety Act to protect rail workers, the public and communities that are most vulnerable to rail accidents.

Hallman said CN implemented a comprehensive safety action plan after the high number of accidents in 2005. He said it is starting to pay off.

"In 2006, Canadian National experienced a significant improvement in main track derailment performance as measured by Transportation Safety Board criteria," he said.

"The company experienced roughly a 26 per cent reduction in the number of main track derailments."

Although there have been concerns about the growing length of freight trains, Hallman said CN does not believe that is a factor in accidents.

Union officials with the railways say that in the past few years trains have grown in length from 1,800 metres to as much as 5,100 metres - or about five kilometres. They travel at up to 100 kilometres per hour.

Hallman said the maximum length of CN trains is just under 3,700 metres.

"We don't find any systemic issues cropping up," Hallman said. "We don't see train length as a specific factor."

In February, the federal government announced its first review into the Railway Safety Act since 1994 and the report is expected later this year.

The review of the act was spurred by a CN Rail accident in 2005 where caustic soda spilled into the Cheakamus River near Squamish, B.C., 50 kilometres north of Vancouver.

A report later stated the spill into the river wiped out nearly every living creature for a 17-kilometre stretch of the 70-kilometre-long river.

Source: Canadian Press

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