imagine if that was crude oil in those cars instead of coal

You bet, that one car would be holding 750 barrels of oil, not all would be spilled but the pressure would have at least a quarter of it on the ground.

The ‘horrible’ spill in Burnaby when the backhoe punctured the Kinder Morgan line was only up to two rail cars worth

If this was in “jolly old England” in the 17th century, that coal would disappear within hours.

and CN wonders why people are concerned with them transporting crude when they cant safely switch a few coal cars.

don’t worry about CN transporting oil. The Liberals won, got to pour that diesel into the excavator and start digging a trench.

Believe me that little bit of coal being spilled is nothing compared to what is already buried in the ground in that yard. Remember 30 years ago digging a 15 foot deep hole in that yard. The wate was black from all the oil and creosote buried in that yard.

@ BCRacer

CN must be one of the bigger Liberal and Conservative party campaign funders, money fixes everything don’t you know. ;)

Well looky here. We got ourselves some train experts. Tell us more about how bad CN is.

pval, CN safely switches coal cars every day. Thousands of them in fact. So today three went off the track. The equipment they use isn’t brand new, therefore things can and do break down. CN isn’t perfect, but since all the whiners don’t want an oil pipeline, you’re going to get tank cars full of it coming right through your cities. And there isn’t a thing you can do about it.

Yup, the Canadian National Railroad Company has donated $217,910 to the BC Liberal Party since 2005. Of course those of us, with some kind of memory, know how much CN benefited from the sale of BC Rail by the BC Liberals.

CN and the BC Liberals = cozy bedmates :D

big deal. its coal. if most people in this town knew what vile things are travelling through p.g.on the rails and semis, they would run screaming in terror to the hills.

If they are hauling dangerous goods everyone involved needs to be TDG certified. If the equipment is not kept up to standards then don’t use the equipment till it is. You have no problem gambling with our environment..how nice of you. What’s one or two derailments of crude..you know the huge different between a coal car tipping and a crude car.. Liquid acts differently than coal.. Coal doesn’t seep into the ground. You have no clue what you are talking about..

Mtnlover you are correct. Just sit one day and check out all the placard numbers parked in our downtown. It’s very scary.. And if its a loaded car with no placards ( illegal) its serious stuff.. Easy to know if its loaded by checking out the compression on the springs.

@ People#1

Of course those of us, with some kind of memory, remember the 90’s. Luckily, enough people remembered as well during this last election.

@ P Val

I agree with RUEZ, from what I can see, they handle more than “a few coal cars” as you would put it. I should know, I’m one of many hard workers up north who load them. You would be suggesting they derail 90-100% of all cars they handle?

Really..I said that they derail that many? No I didn’t. . One spill of crude is one to many. You may think it is fine..but I don’t.

Oil is not transported in open top cars like coal is. Tank cars are double hulled, sealed and have interior bulkheads separating the commodity to minimize any spillage if the two outside hauls are damaged to the point of leaking, which is very rare.

Transporting oil in tank cars is safer then a pipeline and will create more employment. Oil sold to other nations is gone forever, we might as well get as many jobs as we can from the sale of this precious resource.

@ Cheetos

FYI; just last month a CP train derailed near White River, Ont. spilling more than 63,000 litres of oil.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/story/2013/04/12/tby-white-river-spill-pic-river-first-nations-concerns.html

@ Cheetos

FYI; just last month a CP train derailed near White River, Ont. spilling more than 63,000 litres of oil.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/story/2013/04/12/tby-white-river-spill-pic-river-first-nations-concerns.html

There is a reason why oil is transported in pipelines and not rail. Rail line infrastructure needs constant maintenance and is more prone to human error. Pipe lines are engineered to overcome conventional land transport problems. If this wasn’t the case oil would be already be 100% land transport.

You just don’t get it do you northman… we need to move away from oil, natural gas, and fossil fuels. We need to move toward green; wind, solar, and hydro electric energy.

Wind? Solar? Repositioned gas plants? Ever heard of Ontario? Look into it. Could provide a wake up call for climate day dreamers. Tax wise, anyways.

People #1 if you filled up your car with gas within the last couple weeks your just as part of the problem as everyone else. My post advocating for or against pipelines. I was stating the reason why we don’t transport oil by train.