Cullen Presses on Rail Issues
Sunday, August 25, 2013 @ 4:23 AM
Terrace, B.C.- Skeena –Bulkley M.P. Nathan Cullen continues his battle to have railways stop blocking public crossings for extended periods of time.
Cullen says CN continues to lock public crossings and the matter is one of public safety and mobility, especially in the north west where the container shipments arriving in Prince Rupert have created extra rail traffic.
He has called upon Transport Minister Lisa Raitt to enforce the laws that already exist under the Railway Safety Act , but says her response only summarized sections of the Railway Safety Act.
“Unfortunately, the mere existence of laws does not naturally preclude their violation. Laws need to be enforced, and in this case, that responsibility falls on your office,” Cullen wrote in a letter he has now sent to Raitt.
Cullen says the message Raitt is sending to CN “is that the watchdog has lost its bark and its bite.”
Cullen continues to press for action, “So let’s try again: will the Minister let this situation drag on until there is a real catastrophe, or will she taken action to enforce the laws, and protect the mobility, the safety and the economic viability of our communities now?”
He is concerned that the long blockages of crossings will result in injury or death as emergency routes are being blocked, and some pedestrians have taken to walking across the tracks, between the train cars, in order to get to the other side.
Crossing blockages are not the only issue facing pedestrians and vehicles at level crossings.
For a time, the Ministry of Transport had ordered the Frank Street level crossing at the west end of Terrace closed because of safety concerns. The concerns the result of a near collision between a train and the back end of a logging truck in June of this year. The problem at that crossing is that the distance between the intersection at Highway 16 and the tracks, is shorter than the length of a logging truck or other long haul vehicle.
That has since changed and the Frank Street crossing has been re-opened, but there are restrictions on the length of vehicles that are allowed to use that crossing.
Comments
Waited a half hour at a rail crossing last week….
It is well known that CN is above us all. So move on, accept that fact, and deal with it with that assumption.
People have dealt with organizations that are above them all for centuries. It is just a matter of who will join in and what will be the tactics to be used.
Cullen is at least trying one way. This is a northern transportation route and safety issue. It would seem to me that at least some more MPs from both parties join in to push the issue.
On top of that it is happening in BC. It would also seem to me that it is time the province steps into this.
That is the political route, before other actions are taken by the people affected.
Can anyone tell me what is causing the long waits? I assume it is wait times for traffic to go the other direction on a single track section.
It is time to double track the whole length if there is going to be more traffic on the Edmonton to Prince George section.
Can anyone tell me what is causing the long waits ? The trains now can be a 150 cars long. If one is pulling out of a siding because of a meet, it can be a long wait.
“The trains now can be a 150 cars long. If one is pulling out of a siding because of a meet, it can be a long wait.”
Obviously
1. the more traffic, the more meets.
2. cheap solution – make sidings long enough that train can get up to speed if the sidings are near a crossing
3. best solution – double track if projection is for traffic to increase even further. The Rupert Port is not going to go away soon.
4. Do not sit on your ass and do nothing.
Why is everyone complaining? It’s how we voted; business first, people second!
Logging trucks crossing a level crossing is business. So is an ambulance going to a logging truck accident. If they do not get there in time, then death benefits are a higher cost to businesses paying into WorkSafeBC than treating an injury.
Almost all transportation systems are used by business as well as non business drivers.
1. When business has to take a longer route, or the route over the crossing is slowed by the wait at the crossing, business pays for it in the first place.
2. Then we pay for it when the products go up in price locally.
3. In the final analysis, we subsidize the railway locally since they do not have to improve their infrastructure. The infrastructure improvement is paid out of the overall business cost rather than just the locals.
4. Finally, the cost of improving infrastructure is recovered through higher transportation fees or improvement of efficiency by trains having shorter waiting periods for quicker turn around time which results in fewer cars required and less fuel cost due to stop and go traffic decrease. etc. etc.
5. Any additional cost to feedstock/transportation is paid by foreign users of the feedstock.
6. The products are sent out throughout the world, not just Canada, so the increased cost of foreign manufactured goods is paid for by more than just Canadians.
See what happens when one looks at this with an integrated economic system in mind.
Of course CN is a simpleton organization and does not look at it that way.
The Harper government and CN have a very similar mindset so they are not about to force CN to look at it that way. :-)
The whole thing comes down to careful planning in order to avoid conflicts. The railroad must plan its train movements and anticipated stoppages in such a way as not to block the one and only crossing.
Stop the train before the crossing and wait (for whatever) until the track is free to proceed far enough so the last car clears the crossing! With GPS technology one knows at all times where the train is on the track. My car GPS tells me precisely where my car is and even how fast it is going and it cost less than a hundred bucks!
What exactly IS the excuse for any company carrying on as it did a fifty years ago?
The chicken and the egg….the tracks were here even before you, me, or the chickens.
Prince George asks; “What exactly IS the excuse for any company carrying on as it did fifty years ago?”
The answer is because they allow themselves to get away with it! Before the multi-national and national corporations took over our federal and provincial governments, those governments provided “effective oversight”.
Now that these corporations are running our governments you expect what? That they govern themselves? Baa, haa, haa… sigh! :(
At least someone in government is trying to make these large national and multi-national corporations accountable… nice trying Nathan Cullen!
middle finger: “The chicken and the egg….the tracks were here even before you, me, or the chickens.”
…. and the First Nations were here before the tracks !!
So think about it a bit. Did the tracks make their own beds and lay down all on their own?
So tell me one more time with a bit more truth in your statement. Who/what was here before just before the tracks?
Do you want to start discussing where that stupid notion should be applied and where not?
I am ready.
Gus, haven’t been on 250 for a while and you are on most threads. Take a break and try fishing or something…please.
I do know that going out to the Otway rd area can be a pain you know where 3 crossings waiting for trains that exceed the legal length spewing coal dust and crap all over the countryside not to mention short sidings and not enough sidings point is what happens if some form of medical or any emergency happens out there does the emergency have to wait at 3 crossings for the train to clear or if the engineer stops his train short and not clear of roadway you wait for periods of over 1 hour!!! been there done that.
Just before the tracks we had canoes, gold, and fur, but that is not relevant to this discussion. What is relevant is how the last two federal governments have deregulated the railways to the point now where they are a self regulated industry.
It makes sense for an ndp party that had no part in the self regulation process, that they would run with this issue. It is good policy for them in light of Lac Megantic and the the derailment of the week. Hopefully they can remember this at election time, so the issue becomes important to the other two parties as well… not like the provincial ndp strategy of playing nice guy not holding the government to account at election time.
The wait times are sometimes ridiculous. I like the idea of a GPS device on the last rail car, so they know when the train is still blocking the crossings while working sidings… or rolling when it shouldn’t be.
Gus, what I’m basically saying is the tracks were there before the roads and highways.
When I get home in 9 or 10 hours I will read your 30,000 word filiGuster. Have a great day typing.
‘FiliGuster’. That’s awesome. I’ll have to remember that one. :-)
SBU tells the engineman where the tailend is also air pressure and any movement( it replaced the caboose)Remember when the unions where fighting the government because the companys wanted to remove the caboose. I hate to say I tooked you so but that is what the union said would happen, did the public listen? No train crew leaves a train blocking a crossing unless they follow the RULES which are LAW. Bad laws yes, I think they called it deregulation. Let the companys police themself.It is a joke to think it works
You hit the nail flush on the head Eagleone, with a follow up hit by oldduc!
The Lac Megantic disaster is only the most recent example of deregulation that “let industry govern themselves” approach.
Anyone remember the Maple Leaf Food listeriosis outbreak back in 2008? 22 people died and hundreds became sick?
So instead of a government face on television to address the growing tainted meat crisis, who did we see and hear from the most?
“The Canadian Food Inspection Agency ()CFIA, which had been present at the beginning of the crisis, largely grew silent as the listeriosis outbreak in Canada’s meat products spread.
In contrast, Michael McCain, the head of Maple Leaf Foods, whose company put out the listeria-tainted meat products, emerged as the face of food safety through commercials, news conferences and YouTube video clips on the internet.
In its recent assessment of the crisis, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health wrote that it would have been “more appropriate to have a government spokesperson take the lead in communicating with the media and public.”
*cbcnews.ca April 21, 2009 ” Food Agency chief under fire at listeriosis probe.
Imagine that, the head of the company that sent out the infected meat becoming the face of foofd safety during that tainted meat crisis! Business has indeed taken over our governments!
Did I miss the news where they have said the cause of the Lac Magentic disaster and how it points to deregulation?
Relax and unpucker interceptor, here reading this should help you along;
http://globalnews.ca/news/701992/railway-owners-in-lac-megantic-explosion-had-brakes-fail-before/
If it happened before and inspection and safety procedures were not changed t “prevent” more brake failures, I would call that a systems regulation and oversight problem!
Oh and continuing on with the same theme, who was the government face in the media representing the interests and concerns of, not only the victims and their families, but also the concerns of the general public? The only face I really remember was the old codger president representing the railway company. Talk about a massive public relations and damage control failure for that company!
Let there be no mistake!!! Michael McCain, the leader of Maple Leaf Foods, primary role in front of the national and international news media, was to provide PR and damage control for the company… and that’s what we have allowed this country to become, a country governed and lead by business.
Ben / Elaine; You have a good thing going here! I enjoy the high level of current events; discourse, discussion and dialogue that takes place on this site!
Expand this site’s computer server capacity to keep discussions open for more than 1 day. More civic and provincial leaders, whether they be in politics, business or community service should be making this site not only their source for news, but also their source for constituent and community feedback via this comment board.
I just wanted to say to you… job well done!!!
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