(The following article by Simon Tuck and Brent Jang was posted on the Globe and Mail website on December 15.)
TORONTO — The federal government has loosened the leash — at least temporarily — on some of Canadian National Railway Co.’s operations in British Columbia, announcing that the company can extend the length of some trains by more than 20 per cent despite a recent rash of derailments.
Transport Minister Jean Lapierre said yesterday that CN can now add up to 19 cars to northbound trains in the Squamish area that are fuelled by distributed power systems. The new rule, which overrides a Dec. 7 ruling that limited the length of those trains to 80 cars, will be in effect for at least the next 60 days.
The company also agreed to follow a series of safety measures it had proposed to the government, including the addition of a CN supervisor on each train, extra training and en route testing to verify that power systems are in order.
But Ottawa warned that it won’t sit on its hands if the company doesn’t meet expectations. “If these requirements are not respected, Transport Canada will impose further restrictions and may take legal action,” Mr.
Lapierre said in a statement.
CN’s B.C. operations have been under greater scrutiny because of 10 derailments in the province this year on the former BCR track and 19 throughout the province. The area between Squamish and Clinton is seen as particularly treacherous because of its steep and twisting rail routes.
CN’s limit for conventionally powered trains in that region will continue to be 80 cars, although the company says it uses only distributed power vehicles on its northbound route in that area.
The company had been using as many as 125 cars on some of its distributed-power trains, which use locomotives at the front and in the body of the train to distribute power and traction more equally.
CN spokesman Jim Feeny said the company, having sent Transport Canada a new safety plan, expects to show the changes will work. “Our expectation is that the maximum length will be increased incrementally beyond the 99 cars as the safety of the operation is established to the satisfaction of Transport Canada.”
David Chudnovsky, the provincial NDP transportation critic, said he’s disappointed CN is being allowed to run up to 99 cars on the Squamish-Clinton run. “It’s appalling that it would take an order from Transport Canada for CN to be required to do these very basic actions to hopefully make the trains safer.”
Montreal-based CN acquired BC Rail’s freight operations from the B.C. government last year for $1-billion, but its derailment record has come under heavy criticism in the ensuing period.