New Rule Calls for Railways to Advise Communities of Nature of Goods They Carry
Prince George, B.C. – It is considered a step, but, there is still a lot of track to cover.
The Federal Minister of Transport, Lisa Raitt, has issued a “protective direction” that calls on rail companies to advise municipalities of the dangerous goods being carried by rail through those same communities.
Effective immediately, Transport Canada requires that:
- Any Canadian Class 1 railway company that transports dangerous goods must provide municipalities with yearly aggregate information, presented by quarter, on the nature and volume of dangerous goods the company transports by rail through that municipality; and
- Any person who transports dangerous goods by rail, who is not a Canadian Class 1 railway company, must provide municipalities with yearly aggregate information on the nature and volume of dangerous goods transported through that municipality and notify municipalities of any significant changes to that information, as soon as possible.
The only problem with the directive, is that the goods will be long gone by the time any municipality gets that quarterly list. The measures will help communities plan for potential disasters based on the “usual” goods that are being transported.
"Today's announcement is welcome news for Canadian communities," said Claude Dauphin, President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. "It sends a clear message that the Government of Canada fully agrees that local governments need to know basic information about dangerous goods being transported through their communities."
The Protective Direction will remain in effect for three years, or until cancelled by the Minister or her designate, in order to allow the department enough time to develop permanent regulations.
Comments
There is one thing to know whats going through your community, and of course its another thing to do anything about it.
Most of the Dangerous Goods that move through Prince George are also produced in Prince George such as.
1. Sulphuric Acid
2. Sulhur Dioxide
3. Hydrogen Peroxide
4. Diesel and Gasoline
Producers are
1. Chemtrade
2. FMC Corporation
3. Husky Oil Refinery.
So we are part of the problem, because we produce Dangerous Goods, and rail and truck them to different parts of the Province.
Part of the problem? Its called living in 2013 not 1890.
Palopu you have no clue about what moves through this city..get a TDG book and sit on first ave and look up all the dangerous goods sitting in the middle of our city.. The ones you have to be worried about have no placards.. We are the hub of the north.. Just wait till the railcars filled with fracking chemicals are coming through.. We ain’t seen nothing yet bud.
P Val. If they have no placards, then how do you know if they are dangerous or not??
The Chemicals I listed are about as Dangerous as you can get.
Prince George has an Emergency Response Team, comprised of the RCMP, Fire Department, Pulp Mill Employees, and others. They know what dangerous goods travel through this City and have known for a very long time.
There are probably some Municipalities that don’t know what is going through their City, but Prince George is not one of them.
Dangerous goods have been going through Prince George for over 50 years, via rail and highway. The average person might not be aware of whats taking place, but you can rest assured those that need to know, know.
Because it’s what I do for a living. :) also if you look at what the rail companies have to do its just give a guesstimate of what’s travelling in a 3 month term…leaves lots of grey area.. Also there are way more dangerous chemicals travelling by rail. Diesel doesn’t come close to being as “dangerous” as you can get. You should really do some reasearch before you talk about things like this :).
It’s about bloody time somebody stepped on the RR after all the derailments over the past few years, and in BC the CN railroad has a lousy track record for derailed trains, and it’s getting worse every day!!!
And what are the consequences for failing to submit a quarterly report? All class 1 railway companies should IMHO also provide municipalities with a complete emergency response plan in the event of a spill, explosion, derailment, etc., of cars transporting dangerous goods. Information sharing with municipalities about the type and quantity of dangerous goods you are transporting doesn’t go far enough to protect people, the environment and communities along the rail lines.
In the trucking industry each truck is tracked in real time, and one can bring up a map on the internet and see where each and every truck is and everything they want to know about that truck through satellite linkup.
Why can’t this be done with rail cars that carry dangerous goods? A watchman for the emergency response of a city like PG could then simply see what is coming and going in real time into and out of the city. We have the technology just not the will by our politicians.
Railways know the content on each train car and it’s loacation in the train. Incase of an incident this information is available. All cars are placarded just like trucks.
Not all railcars are placarded the same as trucks.. it varies on amount of the dangerous goods etc wihen it comes to trucks. There could be a catch all placard that doesn’t describe exactly what the contents are just that its possible dangerous.. a manifest must be always left with the truck.. usually in the drivers pocket on the door or on the seat of the truck. Also NOT every truck carrying dangerous goods are tracked by satellite.. that’s usually a company policy..and its not to track the truck but the trucker.
As for railcars they are supposed to be set up so no dangerous goods are close together in case of an a incident. Stops any bad stuff mixing with other bad stuff and causing major damage or fire etc. Trains can only be so long…must have different engines if going through the mountains or praries etc.
Actually P Val, I’m pretty sure there is no marshalling restriction in regards to no dangerous goods together on a train. They can’t be on the head end next to a locomotive, they can’t be next to a remote locomotive, and they can’t be next to loads prone to shift.
And as far as I know, any dangerous goods railcars must be placarded. If the crew pulls from customer track without placards, it’s on them. Now, if a customer is shipping something other than what they have on the BOL and dangerous goods documents, that is on the customer and not the railway. The railway is not going to confirm the contents of every single car hauled.
Residue last contained cars may or may not require a placard, I can’t remember the details on that.
yeah, but the railway companies like CN and CP has a lot of power. I think they are higher on the food chain than universities and city. Universities and city deals provincially. Railways like CN and CP deal federally.
So it boils down too, yep, you know, but nothing you can do about it.
P Val. What you are referring to when talking about the location of Dangerous Goods cars on trains is **marshalling** . You are right to some extent, in that you cannot have a rail car of ammonium nitrate located next to loaded diesel cars etc; however there is nothing stopping railways from having large numbers of gasoline, diesel travelling to-gether, or propane, or Caustic Soda, etc; etc; etc;
When it comes to working with Dangerous Goods, P Val. Your the one that needs to do some research. I have worked for Railways, Trucking Companies, Pulp Mills, and have owned my own Company, have taken the Dangerous Goods course’s and I suggest I have forgotten more about Dangerous Goods than you know.
Have a nice day.
Look up Emergency Planning BC to see what is in place Provincially and locally for Emergency Response teams, for various disasters.
That’s about all the info that is available to the average Citizen.
P Val says “Because it’s what I do for a living”
Our resident expert still argues with him
LOL
Well as I am trained in Hazmat, Incident Commander and fire fighting I do kind of knwo what I am talking about.. but then again I did once own a truck..does that count for anything..LOL
BTW Palopu you may want to look up PEP.
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