What if this had happened in downtown PG? WOuld they evacuate the whole downtown?

I think our government serriously needs to think about the Fort St James to Vanderhoof extension so rail traffic no longer goes through downtown PG and along the Nechako River. The cost of this is small compared to the safety of Prince George resirdents and the opportunities it would create for Prince George river front development.

What if a terrorist WMD is shipped on the new container trains from Prince Rupert and sits in downtown PG waiting for activation?

I heard the federal government is working with the American homeland security to outsource container inspections offshore so they won't even be inspected when they arrive in North America. PG would be the perfect target for any opportunistic state sponsored terrorists.

Worse yet what if a simple accident occures and a sulfur train catches fire in Downtown PG?

When is the government or someone going to do something about all these incidents with CN.

They all seemed to have been sluffed off under the statement, NO ONE WAS HURT.....
is that what is is going to take.....
what ever happened to preventative action.....

Let it be one of my friends or family and see how long it takes to have the major law suit going on. And Cambell's name will be at the top of the list, right under CN.

Consider them warned.

I think they already have all the makings of a lawsuit ready, with the locomotive that crashed near Lilloet. The power unit had a documented history of brake problems, was not equipped with a dynamic brake, and the employees were sent into a known mountainous, dangerous area with it, after complaints were made of continued brake problems.
To me, that spells obvious criminal negligence.

If I had done that with a highway truck, I'd be in court right now.

Hmmm....what ever happened to BC Rail?

BC Rail was sold out...
given away....
had the rug pulled out from under them....
thanks Mr Campbell and friends

It doesn't really matter who owns or runs the railway, the reality is that there are regulations that need to be enforced regarding the safe transportation of goods throughout our province.

It's time to increase our focus into this particular area of concern. It's time to lobby all of our elected members of parliament, both Federally and Provincally to bring more focus and attention to this dangerous sector. Not more regulation,but more enforcement. Chester

All the Rules, Regulations, etc; that you can possibly think of are already in force, and Railways are regulated by the Federal Government. There is not one thing that you could think of that is not already covered by some Rule. Most of these problems are caused by the present Regulations, and Rules not being followed. (Whats new)

Railways have been around North America for Hundreds of years, and have a H--- of a lot more clout with Governments of the day, than any Citizens of Prince George locked away in the middle of nowwhere. Train derailments are a part of Railroading, you will always have them, the best you can do is to try to keep them at a minimum.

Trains have been travelling through Prince George for the past 90 years without a major derailment to my knowledge. One reasons is that they have to travel through the City at a reduced speed, so that any derailment would be minimal. The major ones are when the train is travelling a high speeds.

Your time would be better spent trying to reduce driving fatalities, or truck driving accidents, as this is where the majority of people are killed every year.

If a suplhur train catches on fire you would hook onto it with an engine and pull it out of town. What else could you do???

Dont read to much into the propaganda about terrorists and weapons of mass distruciton. 'Firstly anyone who tried to transport a so called **Dirty Bomb** would be dead in no time flat from the Radiation. There is no way for individuals to transport any kind of **Dirty Bomb** without endangering their lives.

Secondly you would be hard pressed to find a terrorist anywhere in the world who knows where Prince George is or who cares. We dont rate big as a target for Terroism. They prefer large Citys where they can get some press coverage.

Chandermando. I guess you are saying that for safety reasons these trains should bypass Prince George, however what is your feelings about Terrace, Smithers, Houston, Burns Lake, Vanderhoof, Mcbride, Jasper, Hinton, etc; Are you suggesting that we by pass these Cities and Towns also, or are they expendable.

Palopu You stated:

"Trains have been travelling through Prince George for the past 90 years without a major derailment to my knowledge."

You are not factoring in the increase in rail traffic nor the hazardous goods that are travelling next to homes.

Cause for worry.

Palopu, no I don't minimize the concerns for those communities, but PG is 10 times the size of those communities and the trains do stop here whereas they travel straight through most of the other communities you mentioned.

Personally I will use any excuss to get more access to the Nechako river since CN embarked on their campaign over the last few years blocking all access to the river. I think PG will never have a nice downtown until the nechako river front is reclaimed and I think the small detour required up North crosses prime flat land for an inland container port.

IMO it would be a win-win situation for all involved, but would likely cost $200 million to carry out.

That said I think PG is a likely target for terrorism via the new container port. Whether it be human smuggling, WMD (biological or chemical detonated by a cell phone call), child labour goods into our city, or god forbid crazy Kim in North Korea tries to test his range capabilities with a nuclear tiped Typongdong (we are its estimated max range from North Korea) missile test.

Facts are we have always been exporters so we don't have the infrastructure in place to deal with these hypotheticals. Now that we will be importing through PR we need to start to think about some of these issues.

Foo738. Beleive it or not there are less trains travelling through Prince George now than at anytime in the last 20 years. Coal trains from Tumbler Ridge are gone. Liquified Gas to Kitimat is gone. Chemicals to the Pulp Mill in Prince Rupert (Watson Isand) gone. Grain trains to Rupert have decreased over the years. All in all less trains and less Hazerdous Goods. This could change somewhat in the future, however that is the way it is to-day.

Chandermando. You can access the Nechako River through Cottonwood Park, which should be sufficient at this time. Your other options would be to buy out the Mills along the River such as the Pas Lumber, Lakeland, or Brink, or Imperial Oil. This would be an expensive proposition, however it is these firms that block access to the River, not CN Rail.

As far as terrorist go, you are living in a dream world. We may not have had any containers coming into Prince Rupert, or through Prince George, but for the last 20/30 years we have had containers (approx 2.5 Million per year) through the Port of Vancouver, both Import and Export and these containers go through Cities like Kamloops, Jasper, Hinton, Edmonton, etc; without any terrorist activity.

If you would look at Terrorism as an American propaganda tool then you would have less concerns about it. Irag never had weapons of mass destruction, nor did Afganistan (Taliban) nor did Osama Bin Ladin (Al Queida) No **dirty bombs** have ever been located anywhere, and it is highly unlikely that they even exist. Contrary to popular opinion they cannot be transported in a suitcase.

Who has weapons of mass destruction;
(1) The U.S.A.
(2) Britian
(3) France
(4) Russia
(5) Pakistan
(6) India
(7) China
(8) Isreal (Denies it)
(9) North Korea (Maybe)

Which Country in the world has used weapons of mass destruction.

(1) The U.S.A. A-Bombed, Hiroshima and Nagisaki Japan 1945.

Relax and take it easy.

Palopu, only an anti-american zelot would look at "terrorism as an American propoganda tool". 9/11, London, Madrid,Bali, all a ruse so the Yanks can go pick a fight? Make no mistake, the islamofacist have and will continue their terrorist attacks. To think other wise is willful blindness.

Whats your point on the Japanese bombings 60 years ago? The Japanese at the time were similar to today's Al Quida. Brain washed and intent on wiping out modern society as they new it. Suicide bombers are WW2's Kamakazi. Maybe Peral Harbour was an American Propoganda tool as well.

Dow7500. The definition of a terrorist depends on whos on the receiving end. There have been approx 650,000 Irag people killed since 9/11 mostly by different groups within Irag, however a large number of these people were killed by American bombers etc;; **Such as shock and awe**.
Certainly the people of Iraq have been terrorized by the American Invasion of their Country. To think otherwise is willful blindness.

My point on the Japanese bombings 60 years ago is to point out that even though, at this point 9 Countries around the world have the Atomic Bomb, the only time it was ever used was by the Americans, who also considered using it during the Korean War., Until some other Country, or Organization actually uses WMD the Americans will hold this dubious honour.

It has nothing to do with Anti Americanism and all to do about actual facts. Get it' Facts.

Palopu: There may be fewer trains but they are certainly longer. What hazardous goods are being transported by rail? That would be helpful to know.
Charmando:You stated: "Personally I will use any excuss to get more access to the Nechako river since CN embarked on their campaign over the last few years blocking all access to the river. I think PG will never have a nice downtown until the nechako river front is reclaimed and I think the small detour required up North crosses prime flat land for an inland container port."

To get the rivers back for the use and enjoyment of all would be re-claiming our birthright and I join with you in knowing it would reclaim downtown if we could have our parkland back.

Papolu: Brinks located there on a temporary use permit which should never have been issued in the first place and thenlater expanded and hazardous goods are used. If you look at the Community Plan you will see that Brinks is in the wrong place. Brinks is slap dash right beside residential neighbourhoods. A good neighbour does not intrude like that.

Palopu, I'm not disputing your facts, just your interpretation of them. The reason the US is the only one to use them is because they built the first one. The world was humbled by the power and
using another one in any generation is in no ones interest. Be thankful Japan or Germany didn't build the first one. I doubt that N Korea or Iran will show the same restraint.

Sorry chum, your comments reak of Anti-Americanism.

Dow7500. Remember that the first casualty of war is truth. This has always been so, and applies to both sides in a given war. To assume that one side tells the truth and the other lies is not so. Both sides use propaganda to get their citizens to do their wishes. You should know by now that the Americans used the Gulf of Tonkin incident to attack North Veitnam, and it was later established that they were never attacked by the North Vietnames, however the result of that War was one and one half million citizens killed, mostly women and children. It took over 100 years for the Vietnmese to get rid of the Japanese, French, British, and Americans, but they did it, and who is now over their being their best **buddies** and investing money in their country and setting up big trade deals. You guessed it right **The Americans**

Incidentlly there is a lot of oil off the Coast of Vietnam. Did you know that??

Insofar as the A-Bomb goes, as I said earlier the Americans were very close to using this bomb during the Korean War, and I would suggest to you that it is in the realm of possibility that they will use it on North Korea, if a war should break out there.

What was the story about ???

Good Point.