Derailments plague CN operations

Canadian National’s attitude toward safety issues “is a ticking time bomb,” says Ken Kuzminski, the nominated NDP candidate in the next federal election for Yellowhead. 

Including the derailment of five grain cars last week, CN trains have twice jumped the tracks within Jasper town limits in the last year, said Kuzminski, who also pointed to a derailment between Hinton and Jasper last November and an August 2005 derailment that spilled 1.3 million litres of Bunker C oil into Lake Wabamun.

The latest derailment is still under investigation, said Kevin Franchuk, a spokesman for CN.

The Railway Safety Act Review - the first since 1994 with amendments made in 1999 - was released to the public in March and it’s findings stress the importance of immediate action by both the government and Canadian rail transport providers, Kuzminski said. 

“Since that review more than a decade ago there has not been a significant reduction in derailments,” Kuzminiski said. 

The investigating panel found a “’culture of fear and discipline’ that is counter to an effective safety management system” and made significant recommendations toward correcting the situation, Kuzminksi said. 

“CN is effectively self-policing, and I think we need to ask if that is in the best interests of Canadians. The railway goes through almost every community in the country. It poses a great risk to the environment and the economy,” he said.

Referring to the latest derailment in Jasper, Kuzminski said “if these were dangerous goods and not grain we would be having a very different conversation.”