• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Nine Cars Leave Tracks As CN Sulphur Train Derails Near B.C.'s Fraser River

Posted on: Thursday, 1 September 2005, 03:01 CDT

VANCOUVER (CP) - A Canadian National freight train left the tracks in British Columbia's Fraser Valley on Wednesday, the latest in a series of derailments that have beset the railway.

CN spokesman Jim Feeney said the westbound train consisting of two locomotives and 97 cars derailed near Cheam View. The train was loaded with dry sulphur. "The crew of the train is unhurt," Feeney said. CN officials and local emergency crews were dispatched to the scene, he added. B.C. Ministry of the Environment spokesman Max Cleevely said the derailment involved nine cars and was about 300 metres from the Fraser River.

"The spill is being characterized as minor in volume," he said, calling it "controlled and well in hand."

Cleevely said ministry spill-response officers were expected to examine the scene between Chilliwack and Abbotsford on Thursday.

While the company insists its safety record is top-notch, its unions have been calling for a federal inquiry to look at the issues of safety and staff cutbacks.

On Aug. 3, a 44-car train derailed along the north shore of Lake Wabamun, west of Edmonton. The derailment ruptured 12 of the cars, spilling about 730,000 litres of bunker C fuel oil and a potentially hazardous wood preservative along the shore and into the lake.

Two days later, a CN freight train headed for Prince George, B.C., derailed over the Cheakamus Canyon near Squamish, spilling more than 40,000 litres of highly corrosive sodium hydroxide into the river, killing thousands of fish and other wildlife.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating both derailments.

Two weeks after those derailments, a mudslide in the Fraser Canyon pushed three cars off the railway line 50 kilometres east of Boston Bar, B.C., after the crew stopped to remove rocks from the track.

On Aug. 19, four cars from a 23-car CN train jumped the track south of Prince George, B.C. One car carried sodium chlorate, a chemical used in the pulp and paper industry, which leaked two shovelsful of the chemical.

And, on Aug. 29, 10 cars in a CN freight jumped the tracks east of Hinton, Alberta.

One car carrying coke, a coal-like product, spilled some of its load.

CN has experienced more than 70 derailments on its main tracks so far this year compared with 49 in the same period last year, and almost as many as its year-end total of 75 in 2004. The average over the past five years is 64 per year.

CN spokesman Graham Dallas has said the company is constantly inspecting and maintaining its railway lines, spending $800 million on its track last year compared with $700 million two years ago.

Dallas said the company's business has increased since it took over B.C. Rail., and its ratio of accidents compared to the distance travelled and volume moved is lower than the Canadian railway average.

Transport Minister Jean Lapierre has asked his staff to conduct an audit of CN's maintenance and review its safety management systems.

Once that's completed, Lapierre will consider whether to take further action.

Source: Canadian Press

More News in this Category