(The following article by Tom Fletcher was posted on the Tri-City News website on January 16.)
VICTORIA, B.C. — B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon has rejected opposition calls to use the province’s authority to check up on CN Rail’s maintenance records.
After a year marred by derailments and a federal decision to shorten CN Rail trains to 80 cars on the most mountainous tracks it took over from BC Rail, NDP critics have been demanding action from the provincial government.
NDP transportation critic David Chudnovsky found a clause in the government’s long-term lease agreement with CN that gives the government the right to demand maintenance records, but Falcon said Wednesday he has no plans to use it.
“We’ve always had that right,” Falcon said Wednesday. “But I also recognize that the federal ministry is examining all that information and we’ll wait until the initial report to come in. If I have any concerns whatsoever, then we always have that option.”
Falcon said Transport Canada and the federal Transportation Safety Board have the most expertise to examine maintenance and operating practices.
The BC Rail operation came under federal regulation when CN took over the operation in 2004.
Chudnovsky wants Falcon to obtain CN safety records and make them public.
“The minister should make getting and releasing these records his number one priority,” Chudnovsky said. “It’s time for him to move from his chosen role as a CN apologist and take immediate action on behalf of the people of B.C.”
After a year that saw a carload of caustic soda dumped in the Cheakamus River and 10 other derailment incidents on B.C. tracks, CN’s worst news came in December when the company was fined $75,000 for a 2003 derailment that killed two crewmen. A train plunged off a wooden trestle near McBride and fell into a ravine, bursting into flames and killing conductor Ken LeQuesne and engineer Art McKay.
CN pleaded guilty to failing to maintain adequate records, after the Transportation Safety Board found the records did not show proper maintenance of the bridge.
Two charges of negligence were dropped after expert testimony that the accident was caused by a broken rail.
CN spokesman Jim Feeny said the best scanning equipment can’t always detect internal flaws in a steel rail.
“We exceed the regulations,” Feeny said. “We inspect considerably more often.”
The NDP has repeatedly criticized the CN takeover of BC Rail operations, pointing to fees charged to trackside property owners for crossing maintenance as well as safety problems.