CN Rail was taken to task in Victoria Tuesday (Nov. 1) following a second derailment at Cheakamus Canyon on Oct. 24.
But assurances by CN that it would step up safety measures were followed by another derailment on the former BC Rail line Thursday morning, this time near Horseshoe Bay.
West Vancouver-Garibaldi MLA Joan McIntyre said CN gave assurances that it would step up safety measures at a meeting she attended along with CN vice-president for Western Canada Peter Marshall, Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon and Environment Minister Barry Penner.
"The minister [Falcon] wanted to know point blank that CN is already taking some steps," said McIntyre. "CN definitely knew they were being called on the carpet."
Falcon called the meeting to discuss specifics around two derailments that occurred at Cheakamus Canyon in August and October.
The province "wanted to make sure CN realizes it isn't off the hook and interim steps are being taken," said McIntyre.CN has agreed to implement three points immediately: the distribution of engine power on long trains to avoid stretch and buckling between cars; an increase in internal safety audits; and an increase in staff training and track inspections.
CN has said it will respond to eight further points relating to Squamish and the corridor, according McIntyre, who called the second derailment "a huge wake-up call" for CN.
But CN found itself back in the negative media spotlight again on Thursday when 9 empty wood chip cars went off the tracks just north of Sunset Beach.
Jim Feeny of CN said 131 cars made up the train and those cars were pulled by six locomotives. He said nobody was injured and the line is expected to reopen Thursday night.John Cottreau, the spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said the incident happened at about 2:30 a.m. and train was made up of approximately 120 cars. He reported that eight cars went off the tracks.
"The Transportation Safety Board responded with a team of investigators," said Cottreau.
That team collected data and intended to use the data to determine if a full investigation is needed, Cottreau said.
McIntyre said she was also assured at Tuesday's meeting that CN is not trying to "wriggle out" of compensation following the effects of 41,000 litres of caustic soda spilling into Cheakamus River as a result of an August derailment.
CN has so far given $81,000 to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Tenderfoot Hatchery for the rehabilitation of the Cheakamus River. And $250,000 has gone to the Pacific Salmon Foundation with more funds to come, said CN communications officer Jim Feeney. But the Squamish Anglers' Association said it wants to see more.
The association will soon hand over a petition to MP John Reynolds to remind governments and the public that the loss of countless fish after the spill will be felt for years to come.
"Get the hatchery working double time, triple time, quadruple time," said association spokesperson Rios Sdrakas. "The funding needs to be there, but the funding should come straight from CN. As far as I'm concerned, CN hasn't done anything yet. With every day that goes by, there will be no fish, 2007 affects the run in 2009, which is a year before the Olympics. We're trying to profile ourselves here."
DFO spokesperson Corino Salomi said the hatchery has been collecting additional eggs to incubate in the hatchery. The hatchery will care for the eggs until they are ready to be released back into the Cheakamus River as smolts in the spring of 2006. But it's unsure how successful the rehabilitation project will be.
"At this point the recovery team's been focusing on trying to get as good an estimate as possible of the impacts of the spill," said Salomi.
A completed draft report is expected within a few weeks, said Salomi, and a final version for public release shortly thereafter.
-with files from John [email protected]
