CN Hopes to Have Line Back on Track Later Today

By 250 News

CN has rail traffic moving again through the Redsand and Blue River B.C. line . A derailment Saturday night tipped 27 grain cars off the tracks. No one hurt, and there were no environmental issues.

CN is now using a siding to move rail traffic through that area, and expects it will be noon today before the full line has been reopened. The derailment ishaving an impact on rail traffic between Edmonton and Vancouver and shipments are expected to be 24 to 36 hours behind schedule as a result.

The cause of the derailment is not known, and is under investigation by both CN Rail and the Transportation Safety Board.

The derailment brings to 11, the number of such incidents CN has experienced so far this year.

Three of those incidents happened in B.C. during the first part of January when extreme weather caused rock slides and locomotive high drifts. “Extreme weather conditions did play a role in those three derailments“ says CN spokesman Jim Feeney, but the cause or contributing factors for latest two ( one in New Brunswick and the weekend derailment near Valemount) have not yet been determined.

The latest derailments happened within hours of the release of an audit of CN‘s operations. That audit called for change. Feeney says much of the report has already been implemented “The audit was done in 2005 in the wake of a spike of incidents in 4 or five months of that year. The issues raised have been addressed and resolved to the satisfaction of the Transportation Safety Board.” He says CN introduced a Safety Action Plan in 2006 and it has paid off with a significant reduction in accidents. In 2005, there had been 103 accidents, that number was reduced to 76 in 2006.

“The fact is, accidents happen“ says Feeney who says CN has not been able to eliminate accidents, but says the numbers have to be put into perspective. “We run more than 300 trains every day, carrying tens of thousands of rail cars. We may not be able to eliminate accidents, but we are working very hard to reduce the incidence and the severity.”

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