Marshall On Track: One Man'sOpinion

Tuesday, March 07, 2006 02:29 AM

-by Ben Meisner

For all the flack CN has taken over the past two years, I ,for one, was impressed with the presentation of the Vice President of the Western Region Peter Marshall.

Marshall had been asked to appear before Council to explain CN’s safety record after Councilor Don Zurowski raised the issue last December. Marshall opted to come to Council, cap in hand, and he didn’t blow any smoke in anyone’s ear.

He told it the way it was, the safety record hasn’t been good, CN is working on it. They are hoping to have a better year than last in that department, but, in addition, he left the format under which he was to appear and answered a good many questions certainly not related to the task at hand.

How does the city fit in the mix? Well we have 500 employees here, he didn’t play a game of chess when asked about the rail wheel operation. He said the move came about as a result of a domino effect from people being shuffled around from BC Rail.

He could have beat the drum, he didn’t.

He got a silver medal for his presentation; it was straight forward, spoken with dedication, and without any frills or candy coating.

I quite frankly never thought the day would come when Meisner, would be penning such an article about CN, but make no mistake, the credit should go where credit is due.

We may not have liked the buy out of BC Rail by CN, but having said that, Marshall was painfully frank and for that, he must be acknowledged.

I’m Meisner and that is one man’s opinion.

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Posted on Tuesday, March 07, 2006 02:29 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: owl on March 7 2006 2:34 PM

I think you are getting soft in your old age. :-)

Marshall is not VP for nothing. Smooth talker.

Posted by: Palopu on March 7 2006 6:47 PM

Marshall states that CN has 500 employees in Prince George. Can we assume that that includes the ex BC Rail Employees. If it does then that is about 200 less jobs than were here when we had 2 railways. Its easy to throw out numbers like 500 as long as you dont relate them to anything. The CN and BC Rail to-gether had about 1500 employees in this town 15/20 years ago. Those days are gone forever.

In addition the Liberal Transportation Minister said on TV the other night that the CN had supplied an additional 1500 rail cars to this area and that shippers were happy with the Car Supply and Service.
Talk to any major shippers on the Q.T. and they will tell you that the Car supply and Service, from CN Rail is the worst that it has ever been. They are absolutley incensed with the Railway and feel they can do nothing about it.

I said from the start this would be a great PR show, and so it was.

Posted by: Foo738 on March 8 2006 7:13 AM

How about Owls' questions?Posted By owl
re: CN Western V.P. Tries to Ease Safety Worries @ Monday, March 06, 2006 11:52 PM
Good observation. I wonder whether Council ever asks staff to get some back-up information for such presentations or whether the Councillors are on their own to come up with factual information on which to base questions.

Line of questioning:

1. What is the most dangerous good CN carries through the City from the point of view of impact on the citizens should a spill occur? Would that be chlorine, caustic soda, or some other material?

2. In the case of a worse case scenario spill, how much of the City would have to be evacuated?

3. In what communities in Canada have spills like that occurred where area evacuations had to take place and what was the longest period of such evacuation?

4. Do you have enough information about this community's Emergency Measures Plan to be able to tell us that we are properly prepared?

5. In your opinion, what is the risk of such an incident occurring in PG.