Weekend Derailment Concerns City Council

Tuesday, December 20, 2005 03:00 AM

Saturday's derailment just west of the John Hart Bridge latest of CN's woes

Councillor Don Zurowski prefaced his request for action by saying, "I'm not commonly an individual that believes we should be inserting ourselves where someone else regulates."

But Zurowski says, "The fact is we had a derailment in our community this (past) weekend (click here, for more), there's been too many of them across the country. I think this City Council needs to go on record with a letter to the Canadian Transportation Agency."

He says, "If they're (the CTA) responsible for regulating, they should regulate and if the regulations aren't keeping the trains on the track, then we need to change the regulations."

Councillor Murry Krause seconded the motion, saying "I'm increasingly concerned about the safety and well-being of our citizens. The potential for mistake or tragedy is there and I want to make sure we go on record stating those regulations that are there be applied."

Councillor Brian Skakun asked that the letter be copied to Canadian National Railway and to the local M.L.A.s.

And Mayor Colin Kinsley went a step further, suggesting that, in addition to copying the letter to CN, "We write a letter to the top brass of CN Rail and ask them to explain to Council what they're doing, why this is happening and how they plan on preventing it in the future."

The motion to send both letters received unanimous support.
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Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 03:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: wrinkledawg on December 20 2005 3:56 AM

Holy crap the Johnny dogooders at city hall are just realizeing that some trains are falling off the track in city limets."Wow" how long have trains been going thru this city?In rail yards with the amount of foward and reverse movements train crews have to make in putting together a train derailments can and will occur.I do not think the rail crews need city hall sticking their beaks where they don't belong. It was after all a very minor mishap.

Posted by: Gofaster on December 20 2005 6:13 AM

minor this time dawg but if any other mode of transport had as many events, in the same period of time as CN has, they would be shut down until they could prove their vehicles were safe.... or is there some crazies out there sabotaging the rail line in the hope that Campbell will reverse the sale of BC Rail to CN. ( I can't see that happening) But maybe it is food for thought, no blame anywher but a thought.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on December 20 2005 7:44 AM

Gofaster, the worst "derailment" was a truck load of diesel that spilt on the otherside of Cameron Street Bridge - just above the school bus yard. The only reason city council didn't shut down all trucking in the city of PG was that Show Boat Skaken wasn't on council yet! HeeHee.

Posted by: Gofaster on December 20 2005 8:05 AM

hey yama, there were others on our last council I feel who were paid off too...to shut up and go away...i fear there are still some there too. My opinion only.

Posted by: Palopu on December 20 2005 12:10 PM

Derailments are a part of railroading, thats why all major railyards have auxillaries on hand to go to derailment sites and put the cars back on the tracks. Prince George probably has two huge cranes to rerail cars between Jasper and Prince Rupert, maybe more. This derailment in the Prince George yard is basically insignificant in terms of delrailments. I agree that railways must abide by the rules, however they come under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government and are required to report all incidents to the proper authoritys, it is highly unlikely they will listen to the local council, other that from a PR perspective.